U.S. President Donald Trump speaks from the Oval Office of the White House, flanked by U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, on the day he signs executive orders for reciprocal tariffs, in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 13, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
The Trump administration will announce the results of a national security probe into imports of semiconductors in two weeks, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Sunday, as President Donald Trump suggested higher tariffs were on the horizon.
Lutnick told reporters after a meeting between Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that the investigation was one of the “key reasons” the European Union sought to negotiate a broader trade agreement that would “resolve all things at one time.”
Trump said many companies would be investing in semiconductor manufacturing in the United States, including some from Taiwan and other places, to avoid getting hit by new tariffs.
He said von der Leyen had avoided the pending chips tariffs “in a much better way.”
Trump and von der Leyen announced a new framework trade agreement that includes across-the-board 15% tariffs on EU imports entering the United States.
Trump said the agreement included autos, which face a higher 25% tariff under a separate sectoral tariff action.
In April, the Trump administration announced that it was investigating whether the extensive reliance on foreign imports of pharmaceuticals and semiconductors posed a national security threat.
The probe, being conducted under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, could lay the groundwork for new tariffs on imports in both sectors.
The Trump administration has begun separate investigations under the same law into imports of copper and lumber. Earlier probes completed during Trump’s first term formed the basis for 25% tariffs rolled out since his return to the White House in January on steel and aluminum and on the auto industry.
Trump has upended global trade with a series of aggressive levies against trading partners, including a 10% tariff that took effect in April, with that rate set to increase sharply for most larger trading partners from August 1.
The U.S. relies heavily on chips imported from Taiwan, a fact that Democratic former President Joe Biden sought to address during his term by awarding billions of dollars in Chips Act funds to lure chipmakers to expand production in the United States.
