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China’s humanoid robots have been taking over the global market. Now the US is banning them

By CNN

(CNN) — China, which supplies the vast majority of the world’s humanoid robots, has suddenly been cut off from its largest export market as the US government moves to curb its reliance on foreign technology.

On Tuesday, the Trump Administration banned new humanoid and quadruped robot imports from foreign manufacturers, saying they pose “unacceptable risks” to US national security. The ban also includes power converters used to connect renewable energy infrastructure and batteries to the power grid.

The new restrictions, which exclude models already in use, are the latest attempt by Washington to bolster and safeguard its domestic industries and supply chain, amid an intensifying rivalry with China to dominate advanced technology and artificial intelligence.

While China has trailed the US in the development of cutting-edge AI models, the rollout of ever more powerful Chinese models in recent months has rattled Washington and Silicon Valley.

China, analysts said, has also established a lead in AI consumer applications and AI-enabled hardware, such as robots, thanks to its manufacturing scale and ability to commercialize products quickly.

“These devices could create supply chain vulnerabilities that could disrupt US economic and national security and could create a cybersecurity risk that threatened American critical infrastructure,” the Federal Communications Commission said in a statement.

The FCC decision was based on a national security determination made on Monday by a White House-convened interagency body, which warned that internet-connected robots could pose data privacy risks and cybersecurity vulnerabilities. US officials have previously raised similar concerns to block the sale of Chinese-made electric vehicles in the US.

The robots “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,” the document for the determination said.

In response, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that Beijing has consistently opposed what she called the US practice of abusing the concept of national security to suppress Chinese companies, vowing to “take necessary measures” to defend their interests.

“Protectionism will not enhance US competitiveness; it will only harm the interests of American businesses and consumers,” she said at a Wednesday press conference.

On Thursday, China’s Ministry of Commerce accused the US of “unilateral bullying” and “market distortion,” and called on Washington to immediately revoke the ban or face countermeasures.

CNN has reached out top Chinese humanoid robot makers, including Unitree, Agibot, UBTech and Galbot, for comment.

This is not the first time that the FCC has banned foreign technologies, with a particular focus on Chinese businesses. Last December, it introduced similar restrictions against foreign-made drones, effectively cutting off another Chinese tech giant DJI from the US market.

In just a few years, China’s humanoid robot industry has blossomed into one of the country’s most promising strategic sectors, with more than 140 manufacturers and a rapidly expanding supply chain.

In a report released by legal research platform LexisNexis on Tuesday, six out of the world’s top 10 humanoid startups ranked by patent strength were from China. Chinese makers dominated the top five spots, followed by San Jose-based Figure AI and Germany’s Agile Robots.

Last year, Chinese companies accounted for 90% of worldwide shipments, while US competitors like Tesla and Figure AI have struggled to start mass manufacturing. The US – the world’s largest consumer market – was also the biggest overseas destination for Chinese-made androids last year, according to technology research firm Interact Analysis.

Last month, US tech giant Nvidia said it would partner with one of China’s top humanoid robot makers Unitree for research and development. But that same month, Unitree was marked by the US government as a potential security risk with connections to the Chinese military, and barred from entering any contracts with the Department of Defense.

Soumen Mandal, principal analyst at market analysis firm Counterpoint Research, said the timing is likely not an accident as several Chinese humanoid makers, including Unitree, are gearing up for IPOs this year.

“US companies such as Tesla, Figure and Boston Dynamics greatly benefit from this news,” he said.

For Chinese firms, the ban will likely disrupt US sales in the short term, said Lian Jye Su, chief analyst focusing on AI and humanoid robots at research firm Omdia. But he expects the overall impact to be “minimal,” given the longstanding geopolitical tensions between the US and China.

“They were realistic about their opportunity in the US market and the current ban reflects their expectations,” he said, adding that many Chinese vendors are looking to Europe as their prime destination.

“Given the current shortage of alternatives, the ban is unlikely to hurt their growth trajectory,” Su added.

This article has been updated with additional information.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

The world’s oldest president left for a ‘brief stay’ in Europe. He hasn’t returned in two months

By CNN
(CNN) — When Paul Biya won his first presidential election in Cameroon in 1984, Nformi Bime was 23 and still a student.Bime is now 65 and retired from teaching. Biya is 93 – and still president. Last year, he won a disputed eighth term that could keep him in office until he is nearly 100.“The best is yet to come,” Biya said before the election, which his opponents called fraudulent and was marred by deadly clashes between protesters and police.For the past two months, however, the man who has ruled Cameroon since 1982, when as prime minister he assumed power following the resignation of the sitting president, has been thousands of miles away. He left on June 7 for what his office called a “brief private stay in Europe” — now his longest uninterrupted absence from the Central African nation in years.Last week, government spokesman René Emmanuel Sadi told French radio RFI that Biya was in Geneva, Switzerland and was not hospitalized, but did not give more detail on his whereabouts.A president who is rarely seenBiya is Cameroon’s second president since independence in 1960 and one of the world’s longest-serving leaders. He first won office in 1984 under a one-party system, then won six more elections after multiparty politics was introduced.He has spent extended periods abroad during his presidency. But his latest absence has revived questions about his health and who is running the country while he is away.Rumors about Biya’s health and whereabouts have long been part of public life in Cameroon, where he is rarely seen in public. His office has repeatedly had to push back against speculation that he was seriously ill or had died. In 2024, the government banned media discussions about his health, calling them a national security matter.Biya’s long rule also reflects a wider contrast across Africa. The continent has the world’s youngest population, but several countries are still led by aging leaders whose political careers began decades ago, including former liberation figures now governing in a different era.For millions of Cameroonians, Biya is the only president they have ever known.Bime’s children are among them. His oldest is 32, and his youngest is 18.Abit Riassai Acha, a 26-year-old doctoral student and community youth leader at the University of Yaoundé II, belongs to the same generation.“Growing up, President Biya was the only president I knew, so his presidency has been part of my entire experience of Cameroon,” said Acha, who voted for the first time in last year’s presidential election, backing the youthful opposition candidate Samuel Hiram Iyodi, 38.After more than four decades under the same president, questions about his leadership have only grown.“Because this has happened repeatedly over the years, many Cameroonians have become used to it,” Acha said of Biya’s long absences. “But becoming accustomed to something does not necessarily mean that people should stop asking questions about how the country is being governed.”Iyodi, who finished eighth in last year’s presidential election, which several candidates, including one of Biya’s main challengers, were barred from contesting, has called on parliament to ask Cameroon’s Constitutional Council to consider whether Biya’s absence amounts to a vacancy in the presidency. But such a move is unlikely to succeed, given the dominance of Biya’s ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement.Despite being away, Biya has continued to make key decisions from abroad, including a major military reshuffle announced earlier this month. Yet questions about his prolonged stay overseas have left officials publicly assuring Cameroonians that their president is still alive.Government spokesman Sadi dismissed concerns about a power vacuum, telling RFI that “President Paul Biya is alive” and “will soon return.”From hope to frustrationBime is old enough to remember when Biya was the change. He first heard Biya’s name in the 1970s, when he served as secretary-general of the presidency under Cameroon’s first president after independence, Ahmadou Ahidjo. After Ahidjo resigned in 1982, Biya took over.When Biya first appeared on the ballot two years later, Bime saw him as a “representation of hope,” he said. “We believed he was young and dynamic – handsome too. He meant so much to Cameroonians.”Few imagined that the man they saw as a new beginning would remain in power for decades. For his critics, the disappointment is not just about how long Biya has stayed in office, but what they see as his failure to improve the lives of ordinary Cameroonians.Political analyst Collins Molua Ikome, a Cameroonian based in Germany, said he saw some of the country’s problems firsthand when he visited Cameroon in April.“Roads in Cameroon are extremely bad. I even witnessed a fatal accident,” he told CNN.Ikome also pointed to frequent power cuts, corruption and a lack of jobs for young people.Wilson Tamfuh, a public and international law professor at the University of Dschang in West Cameroon, said the country has institutions that can keep the government running when the president delegates responsibilities. Key duties, he said, can be handled by the prime minister, the secretary-general at the presidency and ministers.But the bigger question, Tamfuh said, is whether the government is solving the country’s longstanding problems.“People want the Anglophone crisis resolved, standards of living ameliorated, more good roads, fewer people on the streets with degrees, and more,” he told CNN, referring to the years-long separatist conflict in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions.Whenever Biya eventually leaves office, his successor will inherit a country also facing attacks by Boko Haram militants in the north and deep economic frustration among young people.Healthcare is another concern. Ikome said access to quality healthcare remains out of reach for many Cameroonians.“Life expectancy in the country is below 70 years. However, Biya has far outlived that due to access to medical healthcare abroad, which the ordinary Cameroonian cannot access due to poverty,” Ikome said.The divide is not unique to Cameroon. Across Africa, political elites have often sought healthcare or maintained homes abroad, even as public services at home struggle.For Bime, the question is more personal: Will he live to see another president?After decades of waiting for change, he worries he may not – and that Biya could outlive him and many others who are not part of the country’s elite.“Anytime they have a cold, they run overseas and are taken care of, but the other Cameroonians are dying because of lack of care,” he said.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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