On May 23, Bloomberg reported that U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said that the Trump administration is still considering imposing tariffs on imported semiconductors to promote the development of domestic chip manufacturing, but there are currently no immediate plans to impose new tariffs. Speaking at an event in northern Virginia to celebrate the expansion of Micron's memory chip factory, Greer stressed the importance of using import tariffs to bring chip production back to the United States. At the same time, he also made it clear that new tariff measures will not be introduced immediately "tomorrow or next week" and said that the government is still discussing implementation time and coverage with the industry.
"We need to ensure that we advance at the right time and at the appropriate level to facilitate the return of chip production to the United States," Greer said.
Greer's statement further strengthened the Trump administration's stance on advancing the chip tariff policy. Previously, the U.S. Department of Commerce determined in January this year that the United States’ reliance on imported semiconductors constituted a national security risk. At the time, Trump held off on imposing tariffs and asked U.S. officials to start negotiations with major exporters. At the same time, he reserved the option of further expanding the scope of chip tariffs and launching a compensation mechanism, depending on the outcome of the negotiations.
Greer said that the U.S. government’s position on the chip tariff issue has not changed, and related work also includes studying the launch of a supporting compensation mechanism to exempt chip manufacturers who are building manufacturing plants in the United States.
"Our expectation is that you need to build a factory in the United States. If you invest and build here, then during the manufacturing reshoring phase, there will be some kind of coefficient or multiple mechanism that allows you to import a certain amount of product," Greer said. "We are committed to supporting the projects that Micron is advancing and also supporting the investment of other peers in the semiconductor industry."
Micron has committed $200 billion to U.S. manufacturing and R&D, including more than $2 billion in upgrades to its Virginia factory. The company, headquartered in Boise, Idaho, also plans to invest tens of billions of dollars to build additional factories in Idaho and upstate New York.
Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said in an interview with Bloomberg Television during the event that the company's U.S. expansion plan will increase production capacity to meet surging demand for memory chips driven by the AI boom.
In addition to Micron, the other two major memory chip manufacturers Samsung and SK Hynix are also facing pressure to increase production in the United States. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has warned that the two South Korean companies could face tariffs of up to 100% if they fail to do more to expand production in the United States.