Ban on Chinese robots leaves U.S. startups stranded

Patrex’s company aims to make robots that fetch deliveries and carry laundry in apartment buildings. Like most robotics entrepreneurs in the Bay Area, he experimented with Chinese robots and had his first products assembled in China. In early 2026, sensing growing U.S. scrutiny of Chinese robots, Patrex set up an additional assembly facility in Canada, with key components coming from China, meaning these robots wouldn’t qualify for sale in the U.S. under the latest FCC rule.

You need to provide the carrot as well as the stick.”Michael Perry, head of commercial strategy at Houston-based Persona AI Michael Perry, head of commercial strategy at Persona AI, a Houston-based startup that is developing industrial humanoid robots, told Rest of World that even before the FCC ban, U.S. clients had been requesting robots with no Chinese components for security reasons. Perry said Persona AI had been sourcing parts from Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Italy.

But the company still needs to work toward satisfying the latest FCC rule requiring 65% made-in-American components, Perry said. In addition to banning foreign products, he added, the U.S. government should be doing more to grow the domestic supply chains. “You need to provide the carrot as well as the stick,” Perry said. “Right now, you’re only providing the stick.”

How China pulled ahead to dominance The new ban is going to force all the researchers and software-based companies to buy U.S. instead. For us, it’s no doubt a positive thing.” Antonio Li, founder of San Francisco-based Nori Robotics

The latest FCC ban has added to growing trade tensions between the U.S. and China. China’s Ministry of Commerce criticized the U.S. for disrupting international trade and “overstretching the national security concept.” In August, Beijing imposed trade restrictions on several American entities and tightened export controls on drones sold to the U.S., citing the FCC decision and a separate blacklisting of Chinese firms over alleged labor abuses in Xinjiang.

Some robot makers have welcomed the import ban, hoping it will protect them from cheaper Chinese competition in the long run.