The administration of US President Donald Trump is to announce the results of a national security probe into imports of semiconductors in two weeks, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said on Sunday, as Trump suggested higher tariffs were on the horizon.
Lutnick told reporters after a meeting between Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that the investigation was one of the “key reasons” the EU sought to negotiate a broader trade agreement that would “resolve all things at one time.”
Trump said many companies would be investing in semiconductor manufacturing in the US, including some from Taiwan, to avoid getting hit by new tariffs.
Photo: Reuters
He said Von der Leyen had avoided the pending semiconductor tariffs “in a much better way.”
Trump and Von der Leyen announced a new trade framework agreement that includes across-the-board 15 percent tariffs on EU imports entering the US.
The Trump administration in April said it was investigating whether extensive reliance on foreign imports of pharmaceuticals and semiconductors posed a national security threat.
The probe, being conducted under Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act of 1962, could lay the groundwork for new tariffs on imports in both sectors.
The Trump administration has begun separate investigations under the same law into imports of copper and lumber. Earlier probes completed during Trump’s first term formed the basis for 25 percent tariffs rolled out since his return to the White House in January on steel and aluminum, and on the auto industry.
The US relies heavily on chips imported from Taiwan, something former US president Joe Biden sought to reverse during his term by granting billions of dollars in CHIPS and Science Act awards to lure chipmakers to expand production in the US.
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