Why China’s robot makers are unfazed by US tariffs: ‘we’re the only supplier’

Many firms say they feel little pressure to lower prices, as there are few viable alternatives to their products

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Chinese robotics companies said interest from overseas buyers remained strong at this year’s Canton Fair, China’s largest trade expo, despite the ongoing trade war with the United States. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 11:14am, 24 Apr 2025Updated: 12:57pm, 24 Apr 2025

At China’s largest trade expo, a group of buyers crowds around an automated cafe, watching eagerly as a pair of robotic arms fixes a latte.

The robotic cafe has already racked up orders worth 8 million yuan (US$1.1 million) over the first two days of the Canton Fair in Guangzhou – more than its makers had dared to expect.

“To our surprise, the enthusiasm from buyers this year has been overwhelming,” said Han Zhaolin, the founder of Dolphin Robot Technology. “Buyers from Vietnam to the Middle East showed a strong willingness to purchase on site.”

Han’s team had been uncertain about how the escalating US-China trade war – which has seen both sides raise tariffs on each other’s goods by over 120 per cent – would affect sales. But in the end, he had little to worry about.

As a fifth-generation product, which boasts nearly 100 patents, the firm’s robotic cafe faces little international competition, Han said. That has allowed the firm to hold firm in the face of rising US duties.

“We aren’t bearing the tariff, nor are we lowering our prices, because US customers have rigid demand,” he said. “There’s nothing like this produced in the US, Germany or Japan, and similar products from South Korea cost twice as much.”