Trump’s Trade Tactics Come for Chip Controls

With tariffs on one side and shakedowns on the other, the U.S. president is upending years of China consensus.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks behind an engraved glass disc gifted to him by Apple CEO Tim Cook during an event in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. August 13, 2025, 3:11 PM Comment icon View Comments ( )

U.S. President Donald Trump, like the two presidents before him, set out to revitalize the U.S. semiconductor industry. The fact that he is going about it in a way that will be wildly counterproductive seems not to bother him at all.

In a bid to bring back chipmaking to the United States, Trump has mooted the idea of tariffs as high as 100 percent on imports of the critical components, most of which

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