White House Issues Proclamation On Robotics And Industrial Machinery: Top Points

On October 28, 2026, pursuant to Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, President Donald Trump issued a proclamation in response to the United States Department of Commerce investigation into the effects of imports of robotics, industrial machinery, and their parts and components on national security.

The proclamation directs the Secretary of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to jointly pursue negotiations with trading partners to address the national security threat identified with respect to these imports. It also requires progress reports on the negotiations and preserves the President’s ability to consider additional measures, including import restrictions and incentives for domestic investment.

Beyond addressing imports, the proclamation identifies expanding US manufacturing capacity as a strategic objective and expressly raises the possibility of additional efforts to encourage investment. This may signal a shift toward an explicit federal incentive framework for domestic production of robotics, industrial machinery, and their parts and components.

US manufacturing capacity and investment incentives

The proclamation’s underlying findings provide context for its consideration of investment incentives. Paragraph 7 of the preamble states that the US “lacks the capacity to satisfy the need for robotics and industrial machinery with domestic sources” while also underutilizing existing manufacturing capacity. It describes action to “strengthen, expand, and modernize” the domestic manufacturing base as vital. These findings indicate that the Administration’s concerns extend beyond the level of imports to the scale, utilization, and capabilities of US producers.

Negotiations and potential additional measures

Paragraphs 9 and 10 of the preamble emphasize a negotiations-first approach. In Paragraph 9, the President determines that it is “necessary and appropriate to enter into negotiations with trading partners to adjust imports,” and in Paragraph 10, he directs the Secretary of Commerce and USTR to pursue those agreements jointly. This approach provides a framework for pursuing domestic manufacturing objectives through negotiated arrangements rather than immediately imposing broad import restrictions. Read alongside the investment-program language, the negotiations could serve as a vehicle for shaping conditions favorable to US production.

In the first operative clause, the President identifies “establishing a program to incentivize new investment in United States production of robotics and industrial machinery, as well as their parts and components” as a potential future remedy, alongside tariffs, duties, quotas, and fees. This language treats encouraging domestic investment as an express policy option.

The second operative clause requires the Secretary of Commerce and USTR to provide periodic updates on the status or outcome of the negotiations within 180 days. Together with Paragraph 10, this establishes a point at which the President can assess negotiations and consider the appropriateness of additional measures, including investment incentives.

Looking ahead

The proclamation contemplates a manufacturing strategy that could pair measures addressing import-related pressures with incentives for domestic investment. It could also be viewed in the context of other federal actions involving US robotics this year, including 1) the Federal Communications Commission’s addition of foreign-produced robots to its Covered List, 2) the Department of Commerce’s focused tariff relief for certain industrial robots and components in the context of Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs, and 3) the bipartisan introduction of legislation in Congress that would establish a National Robotics Commission.

The Administration has also emphasized robotics through existing federal programs, including:

• The Department of War’s Office of Strategic Capital (OSC), which provides loans for scaling the manufacture of industrial machinery and robotics;
• The Small Business Investment Company Critical Technology Initiative, a partnership between the Small Business Administration (SBA) and OSC that pairs private investment capital with SBA-guaranteed loans to participating investment funds focused on critical technologies; and
• The National Institute of Standards and Technology Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which provides technical assistance to small and medium-sized manufacturers, including machinery and robotics producers, to improve operations, adopt advanced technologies, and grow.

Against this broader backdrop, the proclamation expressly contemplates the creation of a new investment-incentive program and could provide a basis for considering the role of existing federal programs in supporting robotics and industrial machinery. The proclamation’s national security findings underscore the Administration’s stated objective of strengthening domestic production capacity, rather than treating increased production solely as a commercial consequence of trade restrictions.