WASHINGTON, Aug 7 — US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order today imposing minimum import prices and a 15 per cent tariff on products made from polysilicon, a key material used in solar panels and semiconductors, reported Xinhua.
Under a White House proclamation, the minimum import price will be set at US$21 (RM89.25) per kilogram for polysilicon and US$100 (RM425) per kilogram for polysilicon ingots and wafers. The new trade measures are scheduled to take effect on December 4.
Trump also directed the US Commerce Department to establish a programme to encourage investment in domestic production of raw polysilicon and related downstream products.
According to a White House fact sheet, the measures are intended to create "a level playing field for American producers of these strategic goods", encourage the "onshoring of these industries", and protect "US national security and its defence and defence-adjacent industrial base".
The fact sheet also said the US share of global polysilicon production capacity fell from 50 per cent in 2005 to less than 2 per cent in 2024.
