Trump team pushing for more robot development as White House leans heavily on tech innovation

The Trump administration is reportedly studying how to boost the robotics sector in the United States, part of a larger tech push that has seen the White House throw its weight behind industries like artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick met with industry CEOs, and an executive order on robotics could be forthcoming next year, Politico reports. The Transportation Department could reportedly unveil a robotics working group as soon as the end of this year.

“We are committed to robotics and advanced manufacturing because they are central to bringing critical production back to the United States,” the Commerce Department said in a statement.

The Independent has contacted the White House and Transportation Department for comment.

American robotics companies have been lobbying for a national strategy and met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill earlier this year, arguing such a step would help the U.S. build new manufacturing capacities and keep pace with rival China, the world’s largest adopter of industrial robots.

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Major U.S. tech players, including on-again off-again White House ally Elon Musk, have invested heavily in robotics, arguing they will compliment advances in AI and bring rapid gains in productivity.

Tesla’s humanoid Optimus robot, which Musk described at a recent shareholder meeting as an “infinite money glitch” that will grow the global economy by a factor of “10 or maybe 100,” is expected to go into production next year.

Boosting robotics could challenge other core goals of the Trump agenda, which has sought to bring back the kind of large-scale American manufacturing jobs lost to offshoring and automation.

President Trump, whose 2024 campaign picked up unprecedented support in the tech world, has made boosting American high-tech industries a core part of his agenda.

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In July, the White House released an AI “action plan” that called for the lifting of permitting and environmental restrictions to fast-track construction on AI data centers.

Chipmakers and AI companies have also found themselves in the middle of the president’s foreign policy, whether U.S. firms committing billions in investments as part of the U.S.-U.K. Tech Prosperity Deal announced in September, or the U.S. green-lighting the sale of high-end AI chips to allies like the UAE while restricting sales to China.

The Trump administration has also moved to have the U.S. take direct stakes in companies like Intel and semiconductor manufacturer xLight.

In turn, the tech industry has continued to lavish support on the president, with marquee names like Amazon, Apple, Google, HP and Microsoft chipping in donations to help build Trump’s controversial new White House ballroom.