Trump's visit to China could reveal a future that scares workers: dark factories, robots working non-stop, and industrial jobs disappearing before the eyes of the United States.

Trump’s visit to China could reveal a future that scares workers: dark factories, robots working non-stop, and industrial jobs disappearing before the eyes of the United States.

Written by Fabio Lucas Carvalho

Published on 12/05/2026 at 22:09

Updated 12/05/2026 at 22:11

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Trump’s visit to China highlights the search for Chinese investments to modernize American factories, while Gree’s automated unit shows how robots, artificial intelligence, and 24-hour production lines are already reducing the need for traditional workers.

Trump’s visit to China should prioritize the search for Chinese investments to modernize American factories, but Gree’s experience in Zhuhai reveals a scenario of automation and fewer jobs.

Dark factory during Trump’s visit to China

On the outskirts of Zhuhai, southern China, Gree, the largest Chinese air conditioner manufacturer, maintains a dark factory operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, controlled by artificial intelligence.

Inside the warehouse, yellow robotic arms move in sync on a 457-meter assembly line, joining about 4,000 components every 10 seconds for air conditioning units.

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Robots, data, and exports

At the heart of the operation, giant screens display real-time data on production, global sales, and deliveries. About 60% of Gree’s production is exported, with significant sales in North America.

China accounts for about 30% of global industrial production, with expectations to reach almost 50% in the next four years. The company has also advertised in Times Square.

Chen Huadong, general manager of Gree, states that the smart factories of the future will have AI-supported robots everywhere, working in real time. He also says that Gree manufactures quality appliances and factories.

Jobs change with automation

A factory the size of Gree’s unit would typically employ about 10,000 workers. The dark factory needs only 1,000, and a third of them are engineers.

Chen believes that physical labor will decrease, while skills related to AI equipment maintenance will grow. For him, future lines will require engineers to design, plan, install, inspect, and maintain automated systems.

Trump’s visit to China places this transformation at the center of the dispute over investments, modern factories, and industrial jobs.

With information from CBS.

Trump’s visit to China could reveal a future that scares workers: dark factories, robots working non-stop, and industrial jobs disappearing before the eyes of the United States.

Trump’s visit to China highlights the search for Chinese investments to modernize American factories, while Gree’s automated unit shows how robots, artificial intelligence, and 24-hour production lines are already reducing the need for traditional workers.

Dark factory during Trump’s visit to China

Robots, data, and exports

Jobs change with automation

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Trump’s visit to China could reveal a future that scares workers: dark factories, robots working non-stop, and industrial jobs disappearing before the eyes of the United States.

Trump’s visit to China highlights the search for Chinese investments to modernize American factories, while Gree’s automated unit shows how robots, artificial intelligence, and 24-hour production lines are already reducing the need for traditional workers.

Dark factory during Trump’s visit to China

Robots, data, and exports

Jobs change with automation

Seven world powers including the US, China, and Russia are spending €22 billion on a reactor in the south of France that aims to confine plasma at 150 million degrees Celsius, ten times the temperature of the Sun’s core, using a magnetic field capable of lifting an entire aircraft carrier.

Elon Musk’s internet comes to mobile: Starlink technology connects smartphones without an antenna via satellite, works even without carrier signal, already costs just US$10 extra in the US, and could arrive in Brazil as an included benefit.

While Brazil has been discussing bullet trains for 16 years, China delivers 5 new high-speed lines in 2026, surpasses 50,000 km of HSR, and moves 1 billion passengers in a single year.

With a wingspan of 152 meters, 76 tires, and a capacity to carry 1,270 tons, the Boeing Pelican was the giant “flying ship” that promised to cross oceans close to the water on an invisible air cushion beneath its wings.

While countries spend billions to draw water from the sea, a Nobel-winning scientist creates a container-sized machine that extracts up to 1,000 liters per day from dry air and uses ultrasound to release water in minutes, even in the middle of the desert.

Belgium will sink 23 giant concrete caissons, each weighing 22,000 tons, in the North Sea to build the world’s first artificial energy island 45 km off the coast, forming offshore electrical walls.

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