Trump’s tariff playbook expands: Steel, semiconductors next in bid to boost US output

US President Donald Trump said on Friday he would impose tariffs on imports of steel and semiconductor chips in the coming weeks.

“I’ll be setting tariffs next week and the week after on steel and on, I would say, chips,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he headed to a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

Trump said the initial tariff rates would be lower to give companies time to build domestic manufacturing capacity, before rising sharply later — a pattern he has also outlined for pharmaceuticals. He did not specify exact rates.

“I’m going to have a rate that is going to be lower at the beginning — that gives them a chance to come in and build — and very high after a certain period of time,” he said.

He expressed confidence that companies would choose to manufacture in the United States rather than face higher tariffs.

In February, Trump raised tariffs on steel and aluminum to 25%, and in May he announced the rate would double to 50% to boost domestic manufacturers. Last week, he said he would impose a 100% tariff on imported semiconductors, with exemptions for firms that committed to US production.

Trump hinted the chip tariff could climb further. “I’m going to have a rate that is going to be 200%, 300%?” he said, according to Bloomberg.

Both semiconductors and pharmaceuticals have been under U.S. Commerce Department investigation since April, a prerequisite for tariffs on national security grounds that can take months to complete, Bloomberg reported.

In recent weeks, Trump has also threatened new tariffs on Russian energy buyers, a 50% levy on goods from India, and warned Moscow could face higher economic costs if his talks with Putin falter.