U.S. Initiates Import Adjustments for Robotics and Industrial Machinery

President Donald Trump directed the Commerce Secretary and the United States Trade Representative to jointly begin or continue negotiations on imports of robotics, industrial machinery, parts and components. The proclamation, dated October 28, 2026, seeks agreements addressing the national security threat attributed to those imports. The officials may negotiate with foreign trading partners that the officials consider appropriate. The officials must report periodically to Trump on the negotiations, including an update within 180 days of the proclamation.

Trump said the negotiations' progress or outcome could lead Trump to consider imposing or changing tariffs, duties, quotas and fees. Trump may also consider a program encouraging investment in domestic production of robotics, industrial machinery, parts and components. The proclamation explains that additional import measures may follow if an agreement is not reached within 180 days, is not implemented or proves ineffective.

The Commerce Secretary must keep monitoring the covered imports and periodically assess national security implications in consultation with senior executive branch officials as appropriate. The Secretary must alert Trump to circumstances that the Secretary believes could warrant further presidential action under section 232. The proclamation overrides conflicting provisions of earlier proclamations and executive orders only where those provisions conflict. The remaining provisions and applications would survive a ruling invalidating any particular provision or application.

The Commerce Secretary submitted a section 232 investigation report to Trump within the preceding 90 days. The Secretary found that the quantity and circumstances of the covered imports threaten to impair United States national security. Trump endorsed that finding and determined that negotiations were necessary and appropriate. The Secretary recommended several measures to adjust imports in response to the findings.

The proclamation says nearly all modern defense systems and critical infrastructure sectors depend on robotics or industrial machinery for effective operation or manufacturing. The proclamation identifies those technologies as essential to almost every modern manufacturing process, including defense, commercial and dual-use production. The proclamation says the technologies support defense readiness, design, production and sustainment. The proclamation links robotics and industrial machinery to approximately $7.1 trillion in manufactured-goods shipments in 2024. The proclamation also links the technologies to approximately $86 billion in equipment production in 2024.

The Secretary found that robotics and industrial machinery support advanced defense-system production, including aircraft, tanks, ships, weapons and munitions, alongside military and law enforcement activities. The proclamation describes autonomous, humanoid and quadruped robots and autonomous ground vehicles as providing military intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, casualty extraction and mine detection and clearance. The proclamation says automation enables longer defense-production operations and reduces errors in repetitive work. The proclamation says the defense industrial base depends on industrial robotics and machinery to increase production rapidly, including during war or armed conflict.

The Secretary found that industrial robots and machines help manufacture products and parts used throughout all 16 United States critical infrastructure sectors. The proclamation identifies extensive industrial-robot use in automotive, electrical and electronics manufacturing, alongside significant use in metals, machinery, plastics, chemicals, food and beverages. The proclamation describes industrial machinery as performing essential functions in construction equipment, electronics, medical devices, metal fabrication, motor vehicles and aircraft production. The proclamation says those technologies have broad downstream economic effects through the industries and manufacturing activities that the technologies serve.

The Secretary found that the United States depends on imports for most categories of robotics, industrial machinery and associated components. The proclamation says the value of those imports has risen over the past decade and is projected to rise further. The proclamation says import dependence endangers the domestic industrial base and long-term competitiveness in a sector increasingly important to national security. The Secretary also found distinctive security and safety risks associated with products from certain foreign entities. The proclamation says robotics and industrial machinery routinely handle and retain sensitive data within manufacturing and defense systems, creating potentially severe cybersecurity vulnerabilities when sourced abroad.

The Secretary found that domestic output cannot satisfy national security requirements and that demand for domestically produced equipment and components will increase. The proclamation says the United States produces less robotics and industrial equipment than the country consumes despite a recent increase in manufacturing-facility investment. The proclamation says domestic capacity cannot meet demand for robotics and industrial machinery, while existing manufacturing capacity for the covered products remains underused. The Secretary expects difficulties facing United States manufacturers investing in robotics and industrial machinery to persist without intervention. The Secretary considers action essential to strengthen, expand and modernize domestic manufacturing and the industrial base for the covered products.