U.S. President Donald Trump issued a proclamation on Wednesday imposing a 25% tariff on certain high-end chips, including Nvidia’s (NVDA) H200 and AMD’s (AMD) MI325X.
“This tariff will not apply to chips that are imported to support the buildout of the U.S. technology supply chain and the strengthening of domestic manufacturing capacity for derivatives of semiconductors,” the White House said in a statement. “In the near future, President Trump may impose broader tariffs on imports of semiconductors and their derivative products, as well as an accompanying tariff offset program to incentivize domestic manufacturing as previously announced.”
The proclamation was related to Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. The U.S. Secretary of Commerce also completed an investigation under Section 232 regarding the importance of domestic production of semiconductors and semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
The investigation determined “that present quantities and circumstances of the imports of semiconductors, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and their derivative products threaten to impair national security.”
“Today’s action will address the threat to national security by, among other things, incentivizing domestic production of semiconductors and reducing our nation’s reliance on foreign sources and foreign supply chains,” the White House said.
On Tuesday, the Trump Administration formally approved sales of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China, establishing a new regulatory framework that could pave the way for shipments of the H200 despite strong opposition from China hawks in Washington.