The FCC just barred new Chinese humanoid robots from the US market. China called it protectionism.

On July 28, the FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau added two new equipment categories to its Covered List: foreign-produced "advanced robotic devices" — mobile robots including humanoids and quadrupeds — and foreign-produced power inverters, the boxes that connect solar panels, batteries and data-center gear to the grid. The practical effect is narrow but real: new device models from covered manufacturers can no longer receive the FCC equipment authorization required before many electronics may be imported, advertised or sold in the United States.

The instrument, not the headline

The legal basis is the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019, applied through FCC rules at 47 CFR §§1.50002, 1.50003 and 2.903(a) — the same statutory tool the agency has used against Huawei and DJI equipment before. It did not act on its own initiative: the determination originated with a White House-convened interagency body that includes the Department of War (DoW) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which issued formal "National Security Determinations" on July 27 finding that foreign-produced advanced robotic devices and power inverters pose an "unacceptable risk" to US national security. The FCC's addition to the Covered List the next day is the administrative step that gives that determination legal teeth.

That distinction matters because the order is narrower than "ban" suggests. It is not retroactive: previously authorized robot and inverter models remain legal to import, sell and use, and past purchases are untouched. It applies only to new device models seeking authorization going forward. And it isn't absolute — manufacturers can apply for Conditional Approval by submitting the information DoW and DHS specify in guidance; an approval exempts a specific device or class of devices from the Covered List entirely. As of publication, neither of the two manufacturers named in reporting on the order, Unitree or AGIBOT, has said whether it intends to seek that exemption.

The stated rationale tracks the same logic the FCC has applied to networked telecom gear: a device that can phone home is a device that can be turned off, or made to leak data, by whoever controls it remotely. The interagency determination's own language on inverters warns that "remote connectivity introduces additional vulnerabilities which compound as inverter-based resources proliferate," including the risk of disruption or data exfiltration. On robots, it warns that "networked capabilities of advanced robotic systems create extensive vulnerabilities," citing surveillance and the possibility that a compromised unit could be remotely commandeered.

Who this actually binds

The order names no company — Covered List actions never do; they apply to categories of equipment. But two Chinese manufacturers dominate the category it targets. [Unitree](#/company/unitree) and AGIBOT each shipped more than 5,000 humanoid robots in 2025, out of roughly 15,000 units shipped worldwide, giving China an estimated 85% share of the global humanoid-robot market. Their US counterparts — Tesla's Optimus program and Figure AI — shipped a few hundred units or fewer over the same period. Unitree alone is reported to hold close to a fifth of the global market on its own and has a pending public listing; a US national-security designation targeting its largest addressable growth market is not a small complication for that story, whatever it decides about seeking a DoW exemption.

Beijing's response, and what remains contested

China's government answered through two channels the same day. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing: "Protectionism does not make the U.S. more competitive, and it will only hurt the interests of U.S. companies and consumers." Separately, the Chinese embassy in Washington urged the US to "stop smearing Chinese companies and threatening them with sanctions" and said Beijing would "take all necessary measures in response to any action that causes material harm to its interests." The two statements are consistent rather than conflicting — a ministry briefing and an embassy statement addressing the same action through different diplomatic channels — but neither has been followed, as of publication, by a specified countermeasure.

What the order leaves open is which agency draws the practical line. DoW alone vets advanced robotic devices for Conditional Approval; DoW and DHS jointly vet inverters. Neither agency has publicly indicated how it will treat a request, and the FCC's own materials are silent on a timeline for a first ruling. The order also arrives alongside a separate, unrelated debate over whether China itself will tighten export controls on its own AI models and chip designs — a reminder that both governments are now actively gatekeeping AI-adjacent hardware in each direction, on different legal theories, in the same month.