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Trump Considers Tariffs on foreign Electronics Based on Chip Count

In an exclusive report published today, Reuters says that President trump is considering “imposing tariffs on foreign electronic devices based on the number of chips in each one.” Here are the details.

Since the late-april round of “reciprocal tariffs,” Trump has threatened to impose several measures specifically aimed at curbing US companies’ reliance on foreign chip manufacturers.

During the early days of the tariff war with China, he excluded “smartphones, laptop computers, hard drives and computer processors and memory chips” from the levies, a measure Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick saeid was temporary.

He claimed that a “special focus type of tariff” would soon be imposed on these products, but this never materialized. As time passed, several US officials, including Trump himself, floated different measures and tariff percentages.

Just last month, after Apple CEO Tim Cook handed Trump a golden tribute, the President said:

“We’ll be putting a tariff on of approximately 100% on chips and semiconductors. But if you’re building in the united States of America, ther’s no charge even though you’re not producing yet in terms of the big numbers of jobs and all of the things that you’re building. If you’re building, there will be no charge. So I just want everyone to know that and I didn’t even tell you that inside.We discussed the concept, but I didn’t. So it’s a big factor. So 100% tariff on all chips and semiconductors coming into the United States. But if you’ve made a commitment to build or if you’re in the process of building, as many are, there is no tariff.”

In the following weeks, the US would go on to take a 10% stake in Intel but the 100% tariff also never materialized.

Fast-forward to this morning, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration was considering requiring domestic chip manufacturing to match imports “and would impose tariffs on those companies that don’t step up production.”

reuters, meanwhile, just reported the tariff plan based on the number of chips inside foreign-made electronics: