{"id":266,"date":"2025-04-15T14:39:12","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T14:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.soapandseife.com\/?p=266"},"modified":"2025-04-19T23:34:20","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T23:34:20","slug":"us-moves-ahead-on-tariffs-with-investigations-into-computer-chips-and-pharmaceuticals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.soapandseife.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/15\/us-moves-ahead-on-tariffs-with-investigations-into-computer-chips-and-pharmaceuticals\/","title":{"rendered":"US moves ahead on tariffs with investigations into computer chips and pharmaceuticals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By ELAINE KURTENBACH, AP Business Writer<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>BANGKOK (AP) \u2014 The Trump administration has taken its next steps toward imposing <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/autos-tariffs-trump-tax-imports-ford-gm-e53823ef7bbb7b3c46d11eca90aaa638\">more tariffs<\/a> on key imports, launching investigations into imports of computer chips, chip making equipment and pharmaceuticals.<\/p>\n<p>The Department of Commerce posted notices about the probes late Monday on the Federal Register, seeking public comment within three weeks. It had not formally announced them earlier.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"related left\">\n<h2 class=\"widget-title\" data-curated-ids=\"\" data-relation-type=\"automatic-primary-section\">Related Articles<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>\t\t\t<a class=\"article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2025\/04\/19\/anti-trump-protesters-hands-off-rally-capitol\/\" title=\"Anti-Trump protesters return to Denver for latest &#8216;Hands Off!&#8217; rally at Capitol\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"dfm-title metered\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tAnti-Trump protesters return to Denver for latest &#8216;Hands Off!&#8217; rally at Capitol\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>\t\t\t<a class=\"article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2025\/04\/19\/colorado-gabe-evans-jeff-hurd-donald-trump-tariffs-election-2026\/\" title=\"With Trump&#8217;s honeymoon &#8220;very likely over,&#8221; Colorado&#8217;s Gabe Evans, Jeff Hurd navigate tough political terrain\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"dfm-title metered\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tWith Trump&#8217;s honeymoon &#8220;very likely over,&#8221; Colorado&#8217;s Gabe Evans, Jeff Hurd navigate tough political terrain\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>\t\t\t<a class=\"article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2025\/04\/18\/trump-covid\/\" title=\"Trump turns a COVID information website into a promotion page for the lab leak theory\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"dfm-title metered\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tTrump turns a COVID information website into a promotion page for the lab leak theory\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>\t\t\t<a class=\"article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2025\/04\/18\/marijuana-legalization\/\" title=\"Marijuana legalization hits roadblocks after years of expansion\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"dfm-title metered\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tMarijuana legalization hits roadblocks after years of expansion\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>\t\t\t<a class=\"article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2025\/04\/18\/mideast-wars-huckabee\/\" title=\"Israeli strikes kill at least 25 in Gaza and Huckabee makes first appearance as US ambassador\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"dfm-title metered\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tIsraeli strikes kill at least 25 in Gaza and Huckabee makes first appearance as US ambassador\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Although President Donald Trump paused most of his biggest tariff hikes last week for <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-tariffs-stock-market-china-recession-deals-e8e54a68397e6829e1d27552a1d7bfb9\">90 days<\/a>, apart from those for <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/china-us-trump-tariffs-2e05057e973e1e26d1b95c5be003b4cd\">imports from China<\/a>, he has said he still plans tariffs on pharmaceutical drugs, lumber, copper and computer chips.<\/p>\n<p>The Commerce Department said it is investigating how imports of computer chips, equipment to make them and products that contain them \u2014 which include many daily necessities such as cars, refrigerators, smart phones and other items \u2014 affect national security. Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 permits the president to order tariffs for the sake of national security.<\/p>\n<p>The probe includes assessing the potential for U.S. domestic production of computer chips to meet U.S. demand and the role of foreign manufacturing and assembly, testing and packaging in meeting those needs.<\/p>\n<p>Among other aspects of the entire computer chip supply chain, the government intends to also study the risks of having computer chip production concentrated in other places and the impact on U.S. competitiveness from foreign government subsidies, \u201cforeign unfair trade practices and state-sponsored overcapacity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-tariffs-electronic-tech-exemption-12a8c11485c810a61cbd6e1c63ae8801\">Trump said electronics<\/a> would not be included in what his administration calls <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-new-tariffs-rates-trade-imbalances-math-19b0cfb6bdc8ad152d27546fe64d0075\">\u201creciprocal\u201d tariffs<\/a> of up to 50% on some nations, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick explained in an interview on ABC News that pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and autos will be handled with \u201csector specific\u201d tariffs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd those are not available for negotiation,\u201d Lutnick said. \u201cThey are just going to be part of making sure we reshore the core national security items that need to be made in this country. We need to make medicine in this country,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to make semiconductors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The investigation into pharmaceutical imports includes ingredients used to make such drugs and touches on many of the same aspects of relying on imports to make them.<\/p>\n<p>Asked about his plans for more tariffs on pharmaceuticals, Trump said Monday, \u201cYeah, we\u2019re going to be doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said it would be in the \u201cnot too distant future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re doing it because we want to make our own drugs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>More than 70% of the materials, or active pharmaceutical ingredients, used to make medicines made in the United States are produced in other countries, with India, the European Union and China leading suppliers. The U.S. produces about a fifth of all pharmaceuticals made worldwide, but consumes about 45%, far more than any other country.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. also is a major producer of semiconductors, but only in some areas. It relies heavily on imports from Taiwan and South Korea for certain kinds of advanced chips. In particular, Taiwan dominates advanced logic chip production at 92% of all fabrication capacity according to the International Trade Administration, with South Korea making 8%.<\/p>\n<p>Products like laptops, smartphones and the components needed to make them <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/china-trade-economy-tariffs-exports-86ecd3f1594b69e537085ae94e8f0e8f\">accounted for nearly $174 billion<\/a> in U.S. imports from China last year. The administration\u2019s plans suggest that such electronics will still be taxed by previous (non-\u201creciprocal\u201d) tariffs \u2014 and potentially under additional, sector-specific levies.<\/p>\n<p>Although major computer chip makers like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. are <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-tsmc-chip-manufacturing-tariffs-42980704ffca62e823182422ee4b7b83\">investing heavily<\/a> in U.S. manufacturing facilities, partly due to incentives put in place during former President Joe Biden\u2019s time in office, the costly process of changing entire <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/president-trump-china-tariffs-iphone-f50e1c6ba8f8cbb7c4b463720e65f3c4\">supply chains<\/a> would take years.<\/p>\n<p>Separately, the Commerce Department said Monday that it was withdrawing from a 2019 agreement that had suspended an antidumping investigation into imports of fresh tomatoes from Mexico, effective in 90 days. It said the current arrangement failed to protect U.S. growers from \u201cunfairly priced\u201d imports of tomatoes. Most tomatoes from Mexico will be subject to a 20.91% tariff, it said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By ELAINE KURTENBACH, AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) \u2014 The Trump administration has taken its next steps toward imposing more tariffs on key imports, launching investigations into imports of computer chips, chip making equipment and pharmaceuticals. The Department of Commerce posted notices about the probes late Monday on the Federal Register, seeking public comment within&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.soapandseife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.soapandseife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.soapandseife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.soapandseife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.soapandseife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.soapandseife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":267,"href":"http:\/\/www.soapandseife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266\/revisions\/267"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.soapandseife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.soapandseife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.soapandseife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.soapandseife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}