Trump Administration Bans New Chinese Humanoid Robots, to Protect US AI Buildout

U.S. News & World Report

Reuters

Reuters

A humanoid robot at a robotics laboratory during a government-organized media trip in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China, April 16, 2026. REUTERS/Go Nakamura

By Alexandra Alper and David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, July 28 (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Tuesday unveiled bans that target imports of ⁠new ⁠Chinese robots and power inverters, seeking to protect the U.S. AI ⁠buildout from national security threats and reshore key industries slated for explosive growth. Some analysts forecast broad adoption of humanoid robots, topped with AI-enabled "brains," in consumer and industrial arenas, while explosive data-center construction in the U.S. will depend on ​reliable sources of inverters.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has warned that Chinese AI firms could face U.S. sanctions for stealing U.S. intellectual property.

U.S. officials are also keen to avoid another scenario as happened ⁠with rare ⁠earth minerals — critical inputs for tech manufacturing ⁠so dominated by China that Beijing has been ​able to leverage access to them to secure big wins on the international stage.

FCC LIKELY TO EXEMPT NON-CHINESE SUPPLIERS The firm, which is one of three Chinese companies dominating the nascent but buzzy industry, was recently added to the Pentagon's list of alleged Chinese military-backed companies, which can be a harbinger of tougher U.S. action.

Unitree recently formed a partnership with Nvidia to use the AI chip company's cutting-edge Blackwell chip to power the brain of a Unitree robot. Nvidia has said data from the robots will remain in the U.S. and that Unitree's biggest customers are U.S. academic and research institutions.

China hawks fear the robots could spy on key U.S. industries, extracting data and sending it to Beijing or disrupting critical functions.