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The United States Department of Commerce is carrying out a national security investigation into semiconductor technology imports and related downstream products, in accordance with a federal registration notice online on Monday.
The official document, which requires public comments on the investigation, also confirms that the chips and the electronic supply chain do not excite the tariff plans of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, despite his statement on Friday that many of those products.
As part of the probe, the Commerce Department will investigate the “viability of increasing the capacity of national semiconductors” to reduce import dependence and if additional commercial measures, including rates, are “necessary to protect national security.”
The investigation covers a wide range of items, including the components of the chips such as silicon wafers, chip equipment and “subsequent products containing semiconductors.”
The semiconductors play a role in the type of modern electronics essentially, giving the research mass implications for Trump’s global trade war such as Heeks to boost US manufacturing.
While exemptions have a leg made in a variety of electronic products, Trump and some of their officials said during the weekend that relief was temporary and part of the plans to apply separate tariffs to the sector.
Semiconductor investigation, first initiated by the Secretary of Commerce on April 1, establishes the reasons for such rates to enter into force.
First, the Commerce Department will allow public comments on the investigation to be no later than 21 days from Wednesday.
However, on Sunday, according to reports, Trump said he will announce new tariff rates in imported semiconductors during the next week, and that flexibility will be shown to certain companies.
The same day, the Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick told ABC News “” This week “that separate tariffs for semiconductors and electronic products were reaching” one month or two. ”
The Trump Department of Commerce cited the investigation under section 232 of the Commercial Expansion Law of 1962, which can allow the president of the United States to impose tariffs for national security.
Justification is being used for a similar investigation into pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical ingredients, which was also revealed on Monday.
The United States depends a lot on semiconductor technology imported from markets such as Taiwan, South Korea and the Netherlands.
However, for years, Washington has been implementing policies aimed at attacking more of the semiconductor supply chain, even through industrial policies such as the Law of Sciences and Sciences of $ 280 billion.
NvidiaThe chip manufacturer promoting much of the rise of artificial intelligence, on Monday announced a plan to design and build factories that, for the first time, will produce Nvidia supercomputers completely in the United States
Last month, Taiwan semiconductor manufacturingThe world’s largest chips smelter announced its intention to increase its existing investments in the advanced manufacture of semiconductors in the US. UU. For additional $ 100 billion.