Trump Imposes 15% Tariff on Polysilicon Imports in Latest Move Against China

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order introducing a 15% tariff on imported polysilicon and products made from the material, escalating Washington's efforts to protect strategically important industries and reduce China's influence over critical technology supply chains.

Polysilicon is a key raw material used in the manufacture of semiconductors and solar panels. Under the order signed on Thursday, the United States will impose a 15% tariff on polysilicon and related imports while also establishing minimum import prices for polysilicon and associated products.

The measures follow a national security investigation into the overseas production of the material and are scheduled to take effect in December.

The administration says the policy is designed to strengthen US manufacturers, which have faced growing competition from China's technology and chip industries. The issue is another point of tension between the United States and China as the two countries compete for technological and economic influence.

The Chinese embassy in Washington strongly criticized the decision, saying that the measure "seriously disrupts" trade between the two countries and warning that Beijing would take action to defend Chinese companies.

Washington is "abusing state power to go after Chinese businesses," the embassy said, arguing that protectionist measures would not make the United States more competitive.

In the executive order, Trump said he had accepted recommendations from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to establish minimum import prices in addition to imposing the 15% tariff on polysilicon and related products.

The administration will also provide incentives intended to encourage greater domestic production of polysilicon and strengthen the US supply chain.

Trump argued that the United States had permitted overseas companies to undermine American producers for many years. He said that for decades, the country had allowed "foreign firms to weaken United States producers in the polysilicon sector."

The president has repeatedly promoted tariffs as a way to protect American employment and encourage domestic manufacturing.

According to Trump, polysilicon is an important material for military equipment and electronic products. However, the growth of imports has coincided with a dramatic decline in the United States' share of worldwide polysilicon production. The US accounted for about 50% of global production in 2005, but that figure had fallen to less than 2% by 2024, he said.

China now controls a near-monopoly position in global polysilicon production.

The new policy is expected to benefit US-based producers such as Hemlock Semiconductor and Germany's Wacker Chemie, which are among the principal companies producing polysilicon in the United States.

The decision also comes as semiconductor manufacturing has become a central part of the broader technological rivalry between Washington and Beijing. The production of advanced computer chips is a crucial component of the competition between the two countries to develop artificial intelligence (AI).

The United States and China have also been involved in a prolonged cycle of retaliatory tariffs, although that trade conflict has been on hold since May 2025.

Analysts quoted by China's state-run Global Times described the new US tariff as another escalation in Washington's campaign to restrict China's involvement in strategically important technology supply chains.

The polysilicon measures follow a series of other US restrictions affecting Chinese technology-related imports, including drones, humanoid robots and other technology products.

Beijing has responded with measures of its own. China announced several countermeasures this week, including tighter controls on drone exports. The Chinese government has also begun a national security review of imported printers and copiers.

The latest developments underline the continuing strain in US-China economic and technological relations, with both governments increasingly using trade restrictions, tariffs and export controls to protect industries and technologies they consider strategically important.

By fLEXI tEAM