The White House has been working on an executive order aiming to boost the development of the American robotics industry, people familiar with the matter said, as the U.S. tries to counter China’s growing dominance in the industry. Humanoid-robotics companies are sprouting up across China, with more than 140 and counting, the WSJ’s Yoko Kubota and Raffaele Huang write.

China enjoys a vast ecosystem of parts suppliers and engineering talent, and firms are starting to produce humanoid robots at scale and introduce them into real-life scenarios in factories, hotels and offices. Beijing has identified “embodied AI”—the fusion of AI with physical systems—as an area China wants to own in the coming five years.

Among U.S. concerns about China’s progress: Many American robotics companies will rely on Chinese supply chains. Tesla’s Optimus will count on Chinese suppliers for components such as roller screws for robot joints and motors for robot hands, people familiar with the matter said. The U.S. still leads in the foundational AI models that serve as the brains of humanoids.

A group led by Fedex and private-equity firm Advent International agreed to buy Polish parcel-locker provider InPost for more than $9 billion, bolstering the U.S. delivery company’s business in Europe.

InPost has grown rapidly and now has more than 61,000 automated parcel lockers across Europe, as well as thousands of pickup and drop-off locations, the WSJ’s Dominic Chopping reports.

The consortium said it would pay about $9.22 billion for InPost, which is based in Poland and listed in Amsterdam. Advent and FedEx will each hold a 37% stake in the company. InPost CEO Rafal Brzoska’s investment vehicle A&R is set to own a 16% stake while Czech investment firm PPF will hold the remaining 10%.

The U.S. will eliminate tariffs on a set amount of textile and apparel goods from Bangladesh in exchange for greater market access across a number of industries, according to a trade agreement signed by the two nations.

The U.S. will cut its reciprocal tariff on most Bangladeshi goods to 19% from 20%, and will identify a specific volume of clothing and apparel that can enter the U.S. without those tariffs. That volume will be determined by the Trump administration and will depend on how much U.S. cotton and other fibers are imported by Bangladesh to make the apparel products.

Bangladesh was the fourth-largest supplier nation of textiles and apparel to the U.S. in the first 11 months of 2025, according to the U.S. International Trade Administration, behind Vietnam, China and India.

• Trump threatened to not allow the opening of the new Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Canada with Detroit. (WSJ)
• Imports at America's major ports are set to fall significantly in the first half of the year as companies deal with tariff uncertainty, the National Retail Federation said. (Dow Jones Newswires)
• U.S.-based units of Chinese EV maker BYD sued the U.S. government over Trump’s IEPPA tariffs. (Investor’s Business Daily)
• The UAW’s president blasted Trump’s broad use of tariffs and said the union would stand with a worker who heckled Trump during a plant visit. (WSJ)

• January inflation numbers land Friday and the consensus calls for a 0.3% monthly rise in consumer prices that cools the inflation rate to 2.5%, but many on Wall Street are bracing for an unpleasant surprise.  (WSJ)
• Taiwan’s exports surged by 69.9% in January, marking the fastest growth for the month in 16 years, driven by AI demand. (WSJ)
• Wabtec and CSX signed a $670 million deal for 100 new locomotives from the Evolution Series, 50 modernized locomotives and a suite of digital solutions and services. (Dow Jones Newswires)
• Rerouting ships away from the Red Sea and Gemini Network startup costs pulled Hapag-Lloyd’s average freight rate down 8%, leaving the German container carrier expecting a drop in its 2025 earnings. (WSJ)
• Transocean agreed to acquire fellow offshore-drilling services company Valaris in an all-stock deal worth $5.8 billion. (WSJ)
• STMicroelectronics secured a multiyear, multibillion-dollar deal with Amazon Web Services to supply semiconductor technologies for AWS data centers. (WSJ)
• A.P. Moller-Maersk ordered eight large, dual-fuel containerships from China's New Times Shipbuilding for delivery in 2029 and 2030. (Reuters)
• All 16 crew members were rescued from the Sealloyd Arc containership that sank off Thailand on Saturday, dropping about 200 boxes into the sea and leaking an unknown amount of fuel. (TradeWinds)
• Rockwell Automation plans to build a new manufacturing facility in New Berlin, Wisc., as part of a $2 billion investment in its U.S. operations. (SupplyChain24/7)
• Paladin Capital is seeking buyers for the Quickway Family of Cos. and other carriers the holding company owns, after filing for bankruptcy last month. (Transport Topics)
• America grew more reliant on foreign imports of minerals last year, a U.S. Geological Survey report says,  with 100% reliance for 16 out of 90 non-fuel commodities it tracks. (Mining.com)

Mark R. Long is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Reach him at mark.long@wsj.com. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team on LinkedIn: Mark R. Long, Liz Young and Paul Berger.