Shipping containers at the LATC-Union Pacific Los Angeles Transportation Center, pictured on September 2, 2025. Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images Washington, DC Reuters —

The US Commerce Department said Wednesday that it had opened new national security investigations into the import of personal protective equipment, medical items, robotics and industrial machinery.

The “Section 232” investigations, which were opened on September 2 but not publicly disclosed previously, could be used as a basis for even higher tariffs on a wide swath of medical and industrial goods including imported face masks, syringes and infusion pumps, as well as for robotics and industrial machinery like programmable computer-controlled mechanical systems and industrial stamping and pressing machines.

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