Trump to impose tariff on polysilicon

US President Donald Trump said he is taking action to boost the US polysilicon industry. He has imposed tariffs and minimum prices on imports of polysilicon to help increase domestic production of the material.

US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick blames China for selling cheap.

Howard Lutnick US Secretary of Commerce said "So polysilicon is sort of the foundational product that makes silicon wafers that become the AI chips and the chips that are in our phones and everything.So the president's policies have brought 50% of production into America, but we need the foundational products made here.Otherwise, you know, we're making the products here, but we need the supply chain here. So this will bring the supply chain here.We're setting prices so that the Chinese can't dump anymore. And we're setting tariffs to say build it here. We've got the industry here. It's too small and it's going to explode under your leadership."

Polysilicon is important to the chip-making industry and in the manufacturing of solar panels. The Chinese embassy in Washington says the US is again "abusing state power to go after Chinese businesses."