Washington says its restrictions on Chinese robots are about security. But shielding US manufacturers from their strongest competitors may leave Chinese firms to gain the scale, data and global markets that determine who ultimately wins.

Concession speeches follow a formula: the vocabulary of defiance, thanks to the faithful, a promise that the fight goes on. Last month, Brendan Carr, chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), essentially delivered one on behalf of American robotics.

Acting on findings from a White House task force, Carr added new foreign-made humanoid robots, quadrupeds and power inverters to the agency’s Covered List, denying them the authorisation nearly every electronic device requires to be sold in the United States. The stated grounds for the restrictions are cybersecurity and supply-chain risk.

The unstated ground is arithmetic. Chinese manufacturers account for roughly 85 per cent of the global humanoid market. There is no established American industry to protect, only an infant to be raised behind a wall.

That’s the message the industry received. Evan Beard, CEO of Standard Bots, hailed the order as among the strongest technology-security actions in modern American history, vowing that foreign-subsidised machines would not “dominate US robotics as they did solar”.

The security case deserves a fair........

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