Trump administration extends tariff pause on Chinese-made chips for 90 days
The Trump administration has extended a long-running exemption for Chinese-made chips from a 25 percent tariff imposed during President Trump's first administration.
The office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a notice posted Saturday that it was extending the exemption, set to expire that day, to Aug. 31.
The 25 percent tariff, which initially went into effect in 2019, would have applied to a variety of products, including graphics processing units (GPUs) — the chips at the heart of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom.
The extension of the yearslong tariff exemption comes as the second Trump administration weighs whether to impose separate import taxes on semiconductors.
Trump has imposed wide-ranging tariffs in his second term, instituting hefty 'reciprocal' tariffs on dozens of countries, including China. However, he has put many of these import taxes on hold in the face of market concerns.
Semiconductors were exempted from these tariffs, although the president has said he plans to impose separate sector-specific tariffs.
The White House announced in April that it had opened a national security investigation into the effects of importing semiconductors, the first step toward instituting tariffs under a provision known as Section 232.
Semiconductor tariffs, like other import taxes on tech products, pose difficulties for companies given tech firms' heavy reliance on international supply chains.
Nvidia, a leading chipmaker, has begun producing some of its advanced chips at a factory in Arizona and plans to spend $500 billion expanding its AI infrastructure in the U.S. over the next years.
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