Trump declares robot imports a national security threat

President Donald Trump has declared the imports of foreign-made factory robots to be a national security threat—ordering new US negotiations with trading partners while holding out the possibility of imposing new tariffs on such robot imports in the future.

唐纳德·特朗普总统已宣布进口外国制造的工厂机器人构成国家安全威胁，并下令与贸易伙伴进行新的谈判，同时保留了未来对这些机器人进口征收新关税的可能性。

Issued on October 28, Trump’s presidential proclamation represents heightened government scrutiny of foreign-made industrial robots that could complicate the manufacturing operations of major US corporations that rely on such robots. Those companies include Detroit automakers General Motors and Ford, electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, and aerospace and defense giants like Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

特朗普于10月28日发布的总统公告代表了政府对外国制造工业机器人审查的加强，这可能会使依赖此类机器人的美国大型企业的制造业务变得复杂。这些公司包括底特律汽车制造商通用汽车和福特、电动汽车制造商特斯拉，以及波音和洛克希德·马丁等航空航天和国防巨头。

Trump’s proclamation describes industrial robots and machinery as being crucial for producing US military weapon systems along with representing a “driving force” behind all critical infrastructure sectors within the US economy. The proclamation cites an investigation under US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick as having found that US imports of such robots “pose[] risks to the United States industrial base and threatens the long-term competitiveness of the United States in a sector that is increasingly vital to national security.”

特朗普的公告将工业机器人和机械描述为生产美国军事武器系统的关键，并称其代表了美国经济中所有关键基础设施部门的“驱动力”。该公告援引了美国商务部长霍华德·卢特尼克（Howard Lutnick）领导的一项调查，该调查发现，美国进口此类机器人“对美国工业基础构成了风险，并威胁到美国在一个对国家安全日益重要的领域中的长期竞争力”。

The Department of Commerce investigation also supposedly found “unique security and safety risks” that may introduce “significant cybersecurity vulnerabilities that can result in severe consequences to the United States.” Such wording echoes justifications used by Trump’s Federal Communications Commission when it banned new models of foreign-made robots, such as robotic vacuums, four-legged robot dogs, and humanoid robots, in July 2026.

美国商务部的调查还声称发现了“独特的安全风险”，这些风险可能会引入“可能导致美国遭受严重后果的重大网络安全漏洞”。这种措辞呼应了特朗普的联邦通信委员会在2026年7月禁止新型外国制造机器人（如扫地机器人、四足机器狗和人形机器人）时所使用的理由。

But that FCC action had specifically exempted industrial robot arms and other fixed or stationary robots commonly deployed in automotive factories and logistics warehouses. Now Trump’s directive for the United States and trading partners “to adjust imports of robotics, industrial machinery, and their components” aims to strike new agreements on the issue within 180 days of the proclamation’s date.

但联邦通信委员会的行动特别豁免了通常部署在汽车工厂和物流仓库中的工业机械臂及其他固定式机器人。现在，特朗普要求美国与贸易伙伴“调整机器人、工业机械及其零部件的进口”的指令，旨在公告发布之日起180天内就此问题达成新协议。

If no agreements have been reached by then, the proclamation warns that the president may take additional actions, like imposing “tariffs, duties, quotas, and fees” on such imports. Any tariffs or other fees would, of course, be paid by the US companies importing such foreign-made robots.

如果届时仍未达成协议，公告警告称总统可能会采取额外行动，例如对此类进口商品征收“关税、税款、配额和费用”。当然，任何关税或其他费用都将由进口这些外国制造机器人的美国公司支付。

That would likely increase the cost of US manufacturing operations at a time when the United States has become the second largest market in using industrial robots, with the International Federation of Robotics reporting nearly 38,500 new US installations of industrial robots in 2025. Major US automotive and aerospace companies often buy large robotic arms for factory floor work from the “big four” robotics makers—FANUC, ABB, Yaskawa, and KUKA—that are headquartered in Japan, Switzerland, and Germany.

这可能会增加美国制造业的运营成本，而此时美国已成为全球第二大工业机器人使用市场，国际机器人联合会报告称，2025年美国新增工业机器人安装量近38,500台。美国大型汽车和航空航天公司经常从总部位于日本、瑞士和德国的“四大”机器人制造商——发那科（FANUC）、ABB、安川电机（Yaskawa）和库卡（KUKA）——购买用于工厂车间作业的大型机械臂。

No US company currently offers comparable heavy-duty hardware for large industrial robotic arms, although the foreign robotics makers have been expanding their US engineering and assembly facilities. Even Amazon, the company that has arguably deployed more robot workers than any other in the world, still uses some foreign-made robots, like Japan’s FANUC robotic arms, despite having significantly ramped up its own in-house robot production and developed certain specialized robotic arms.

目前没有美国公司能提供可与大型工业机械臂相媲美的重型硬件，尽管外国机器人制造商一直在扩大其在美国的工程和组装设施。即使是亚马逊，这家被认为部署了全球最多机器人劳动力的公司，尽管已经大幅增加了内部机器人生产并开发了某些专用机械臂，但仍在使用一些外国制造的机器人，例如日本发那科的机械臂。

Trump’s own proclamation acknowledges that US robotics companies do not produce enough industrial robots to “meet national security needs,” and that the United States “relies on foreign imports for most types of robotics and industrial machinery and for their components.” If Trump eventually slaps tariffs on US imports of foreign-made industrial robots, that would at least fall short of restricting imports outright. Although as Intel recently showed, major US companies can still get waivers from the Trump administration to continue using foreign-made robots even when a nominal ban is in place.

特朗普的公告承认，美国机器人公司生产的工业机器人不足以“满足国家安全需求”，且美国“在大多数类型的机器人、工业机械及其零部件方面依赖外国进口”。如果特朗普最终对美国进口的外国制造工业机器人征收关税，这至少还未达到完全限制进口的程度。不过，正如英特尔最近所展示的那样，即使在名义上实施禁令的情况下，美国大公司仍可从特朗普政府获得豁免，以继续使用外国制造的机器人。