Trump's trade chief drops massive national security warning in secret meeting: report

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick warned top executives that the United States was taking steps to respond to China's state-backed robotics industry, something viewed as a potential national security threat, Politico reported on Tuesday.

During the closed-door meeting on Monday, he told the business leaders that the Trump administration was studying state-subsidized robotics imports, three people who attended the meeting told Politico. The move comes amid concerns that "subsidized Chinese robots could dominate global markets before U.S. manufacturers have the scale to compete."

Dozens of executives from companies such as Boston Dynamics, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Siemens, SpaceX and Rockwell Automation were at the roundtable discussion, Politico reported. Some of the discussion included how the American industry could "reverse decades of manufacturing offshoring and rebuild the industrial base needed to build everything from semiconductors to robots."

It's a sign of the escalating robotics import race between China and the United States.

"Lutnick’s comments reflect a growing view inside the Trump administration that robotics — not just AI chips — is becoming the next battleground in the technological competition," according to Politico.

"We don’t want state-subsidized robotics attacking us in America; this is the arms [race] that is coming — robotic arms are coming," Lutnick said in the meeting, according to notes provided to Politico. "We need to make sure they’re produced in America so we’re going to study those right now."