Gov’t affirms tariffs on Chinese, Japanese industrial robots

Chinese humanoid robots are displayed at AW 2026 in Seoul, March 4. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

The Korea Trade Commission (KTC) has decided to recommend the imposition of duties on industrial robots imported from Japan and China to battle oversaturation, concluding that unfair pricing practices have caused serious harm to the domestic industry.

At its plenary session on Thursday, the commission reached a final affirmative ruling recommending duties of 17.45 percent to 18.64 percent on Japanese products and 15.96 percent to 19.85 percent on Chinese imports.

The recommendations followed an investigation launched in March last year at the request of HD Hyundai Robotics, covering Japan’s Fanuc and Yaskawa Electric Corp. and the Chinese branches of three companies: Kuka Robotics, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and ABB Engineering.

The review included overseas site inspections and visits to local customer industries. Based on the findings, the commission voted to approve a proposal to levy tariffs to mitigate the oversaturation of industrial robots.

Since November last year, provisional duties ranging from 21.17 percent to 43.6 percent have been in place on the affected products. The measure covers industrial robots with four or more joints in a vertical arm structure, designed to lift loads between 6 and 600 kilograms, and used in tasks such as car body welding, packaging and sorting in logistics, metal cutting and drilling, and mixing or handling chemicals.

“The measure is expected to curb unfair competition and help preserve the local industrial robot manufacturing base, ultimately contributing to stabilizing supply chains for downstream industries,” the commission said.

Separately, the commission launched four new trade remedy investigations, including a midterm review of oversaturation-related duties on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) imports from China and a probe into alleged unfair trade practices involving patent infringement of electric vehicle lithium-ion batteries.

Chinese PET has faced duties since November 2024, but a recent surge in imports has prompted local firms to request a reassessment and possible increase in the dumping margin. If sufficient evidence of a change in circumstances is confirmed, the commission may recommend revised duties.

On the same day, the commission also held a public hearing on alleged damages to the domestic industry resulting from imports of polyvinyl chloride paste resin from Germany, France, Norway and Sweden.