President Trump confirms upcoming tariffs on foreign-made semiconductors, with broader measures under a national security investigation targeting the entire electronics and pharmaceutical supply chains.

By yourNEWS Media Newsroom

President Donald Trump said on April 13 that his administration will impose new tariffs on imported semiconductors within the coming week, part of a broader national security review targeting the entire electronics supply chain. The announcement came during a press briefing aboard Air Force One, as Trump returned from his Florida estate to Washington.

“Like we did with steel, like we did with automobiles, like we did with aluminum, which are now fully on, we‘ll be doing that with semiconductors, with chips and numerous other things,” the president said. “And that’ll take place in the very near future.”

Trump emphasized the new tariffs would be non-negotiable, adding, “We want to make our chips and semiconductors and other things in our country.”

The president clarified in a social media post earlier in the day that items currently excluded from reciprocal tariffs — including smartphones and computers — are still subject to existing 20 percent tariffs under what he described as the “Fentanyl Tariff” classification. These items, he said, are simply being reassigned to a new tariff category.

As part of the move, Trump also announced a national security investigation into the entire electronics supply chain. “We are taking a look at Semiconductors and the WHOLE ELECTRONICS SUPPLY CHAIN in the upcoming National Security Tariff Investigations,” he wrote. The administration also plans to apply similar scrutiny to the pharmaceutical sector.

“We want to make our drugs in this country,” Trump told reporters. “We’re going to have our drugs made in the United States so that in case of war, in case of whatever, we’re not relying on China and various other countries.”

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, speaking to ABC’s “This Week” on the same day, confirmed that electronic products exempted from reciprocal tariffs last week — including laptops, servers, tablets, and semiconductor fabrication machinery — are still included in the forthcoming semiconductor-specific tariff bucket.

“But they’re included in the semiconductor tariffs, which are coming in probably a month or two,” Lutnick said.

Senior counselor Peter Navarro told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the new tariffs are being advanced under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which allows the president to restrict imports deemed a national security threat. Trump has used the law before, including during his first term to defend steel and aluminum tariffs.

After the rollout of a universal 10 percent tariff plan on April 2, the U.S. stock market saw sharp volatility. But following Trump’s pause on most tariffs for 90 days on April 9, the S&P 500 surged 9.5 percent — its strongest single-day gain since 2008 — though it remained down more than 11 percent from its February high.

Despite market uncertainty, Trump and top officials insisted that tariffs on semiconductors and related components are not open to negotiation.

“This is not a permanent sort of exemption,” Lutnick said. “[Trump is] just clarifying that these are not available to be negotiated away by countries.”

Lutnick underscored the need to reestablish high-tech manufacturing domestically. “We can’t be reliant on Southeast Asia for all of the things that operate for us,” he said, noting that most semiconductors are currently produced in Taiwan and finished in China.

Lutnick highlighted the recent completion of a new Panasonic factory in Kansas as evidence of growing domestic capacity. “They trained people for this—4,000 high-tech jobs in Kansas,” he said.

Navarro, meanwhile, said the goal of the new tariff strategy is “stability and resilience” across the U.S. supply chain. He also reiterated that tariffs are essential to safeguarding national independence in critical sectors.

The Biden administration had previously pursued targeted tariffs on Chinese semiconductors under the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, which allocated $53 billion to rebuild semiconductor supply chains in the U.S.

But Trump’s new measures appear broader and more aggressive. “Nobody is getting ‘off the hook’ for the unfair trade balances, and non-monetary tariff barriers,” Trump said in his April 13 statement. “Especially not China.”

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) responded on Sunday, saying she supports legislation to rein in executive power over tariff authority. “Every Democrat is ready to go, to push back or take away from the president the power he’s now exercising,” Warren told ABC’s Jonathan Karl. “The question is whether or not the Republicans will join us in this. There will be a vote in about 15 days.”