The Trump administration recently announced bans on imports of new Chinese robots and power inverters, citing threats to US national security and supply chain vulnerabilities.
Without naming China, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) expanded its Covered List to include two new categories of foreign-made equipment: advanced robotic devices and connected power inverters. The robotic devices included mobile robots, such as humanoids and quadrupeds.
The action would ban the import and sale of new robotic devices and power inverters but would not affect any previously bought devices.
“The networked capabilities of advanced robotic systems create extensive vulnerabilities and vectors for attacks that can manipulate the data and physical operation of the advanced robotic system,” the FCC notice said.
“Advanced robotic devices collect data that could be leveraged by malign actors to surveil Americans, enhance the capabilities of foreign intelligence services, or to remotely commandeer the robots.”
On inverters, the FCC alleged that their “remote connectivity” feature has introduced “additional vulnerabilities which compound as inverter-based resources proliferate on the US grid”.
“These vulnerabilities could enable foreign firms to turn off the inverters or use them to collect and exfiltrate data, facilitate remote access and surveillance by foreign government actors, or be otherwise exploited through a cyberattack.”
Around one-third of the inverters imported into the US in 2024 came directly from China, according to data from the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
The FCC said the decision came after a White House-convened inter-agency body with national security expertise determined that certain foreign-made robots and power inverters “pose unacceptable risks to US national security”.
“I am pleased that the FCC has now added foreign-produced advanced robotics and power inverters to the FCC’s Covered List,” FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said on social media.
“Following President Trump’s leadership, the FCC will continue to do our part to secure America’s critical supply chains and, with today’s action, the FCC is acting in lockstep with our national security agencies to do just that.”
The Chinese embassy in Washington urged the US to “abandon its hegemonic mindset” and “stop smearing Chinese companies and threatening them with sanctions”.
“China will take all necessary measures in response to any action that causes material harm to its interests and will resolutely safeguard its legitimate and lawful rights and interests,” embassy spokesman Liu Chang said in a statement to the South China Morning Post.
He added that China had consistently opposed the “U.S. practice of politicising and instrumentalising sci-tech, economic and trade issues” and “smearing and sanctioning of Chinese companies under all sorts of groundless pretexts”.
Despite a relative calm in US-China relations, the FCC, under Carr’s leadership, has quietly emerged as one of Washington’s most aggressive federal regulators, targeting Chinese tech firms.
The federal agency has launched a series of stringent measures to curb China’s footprint in the US communications sector.
These actions include an import ban on Chinese-manufactured drones, strict authorisation limits on foreign-made consumer routers, proposals to further curb Chinese telecoms companies, and regulatory steps to evict Chinese-owned state carriers operating inside American networks.
In early July, the agency added California-based Digitalsystem Technology to its list of entities deemed to pose a threat to US national security. It had also previously barred China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom from providing international telecommunications services in the United States over national security concerns.
Republican Senator Jim Banks welcomed the FCC’s move, saying Carr was “leading from the front to protect our national security”.
“Advanced robotics and power inverters are essential to re-industrialisation and our critical infrastructure,” Banks added.
The latest actions come amid an intensifying artificial intelligence race between Washington and Beijing, with US officials increasingly concerned that China is closing the gap in advanced technologies.
