(Bloomberg) -- Washington risked widening its tech confrontation with China by restricting more foreign-made goods, including some humanoid robots and power inverters.
Most Read from Bloomberg
Chip Rout Deepens on Circular Funding, China Competition Fears - Apple Set to Make Big Smart Home Push With Siri AI at Center
Citing possible "supply chain vulnerabilities" identified by national security officials, the Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday it was adding "advanced robotic devices" and connected inverters to its registry of communications-related items it considers posing an "unacceptable risk."
The announcement didn't mention China directly, saying only the curbs apply to foreign-made products. However, given China's dominance in robotics, the move amounts to an effective ban.
Companies can seek exemptions from the Department of Defense or Department of Homeland Security, the FCC said.
China's Foreign Ministry and Commerce Ministry didn't immediately reply to a request for comment.
The move will likely add to tensions between the economic superpowers over tech issues while officials try to maintain a fragile trade truce weeks before a meeting of their leaders. On Monday, the Commerce Ministry in Beijing warned Washington against sanctioning Chinese artificial intelligence companies.
The FCC earlier targeted foreign-made drones — another industry in which China leads. It said in December last year that it would ban most foreign-made drones and critical components for unmanned aircraft systems.
Chris McGuire, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who served in the Trump and Biden administrations, said in a post on X that the move could be "transformational" for the US robotics industry by incentivizing reshoring of robotics supply chains while preventing China from flooding the US market with cheap robots that also pose national security risks.
"This is a very, very big deal," McGuire wrote. "Moving forward, new Chinese robots won't be able to be sold in America."
Shares of some Chinese inverter makers retreated. Industry leader Sungrow Power Supply Co. fell 7.8%. It dropped 14% on July 1 when news of a potential ban surfaced, while GoodWe Technologies Co. lost 3.2%.
Sungrow is heavily reliant on international markets, with 60% of its revenue generated outside China last year. Some 30% to 40% of its gross profit from inverter sales came from the US in 2025, according to an estimate by Citigroup Inc.