The United States has announced new tariffs and price floors on polysilicon and related products, targeting China’s dominance in the key material used in solar panels and semiconductors. The 15% tariff will take effect after 120 days. Price floors to protect domestic manufacturers and curb imports of China-sourced materials were also established. “We’re setting prices so that the Chinese can’t dump any more, and we’re setting tariffs to say build it here,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said. “We’re making the products here, but we need the supply chain here,” he added.
According to U.S. President Trump’s proclamation, a minimum import price (MIP) would help create a “protected domestic market” that allows U.S. producers to “compete free from global distortions”. “Without a secure and reliable domestic supply of polysilicon, the United States cannot sufficiently produce semiconductors,” it added. “We’re bringing the chip business back into the United States in a very big way,” Trump said in the Oval Office at the White House.
The action follows a Commerce Department national security investigation into imports of polysilicon and its derivative products. The investigation was launched in July 2025 under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lin Jian retorted that “protectionism will not make the U.S. more competitive,”
Polysilicon, a hyper-pure form of silicon derived from quartz, serves as the essential foundational material for both semiconductors and solar panels. China holds a near monopoly on polysilicon production, accounting for more than 90% of global output as of 2024. By contrast, the U.S. share of global polysilicon production capacity has fallen from 50% in 2005 to less than 2% over the same period. The latest development marks another escalation in the ongoing tit-for-tat actions between Washington and Beijing, with the U.S. imposing tariffs while both sides expand export controls and restrictions targeting companies.
Despite a blame game, they have so far kept the disputes from affecting preparations for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s expected visit to the U.S. in September. But the summit would likely to be called off if the Trump administration approved the pending USD14 billion arms sales package to Taiwan – Beijing has repeatedly warned that doing so would cross its “red line” of strategic tolerance, the South China Morning Post reports.
