U.S. postpones imposing duties on Chinese chips until mid-2027
It's a sign that Donald Trump's administration is trying to stabilize relations with Beijing, according to Bloomberg
The US has accused China of unfair trade practices in the semiconductor sector, but decided not to impose additional duties on chip imports until at least mid-2027. This follows the results of the U.S. Trade Representative's investigation, which were published on its website on December 23. The specific level of the duties will be announced no later than a month before they come into effect.
"China's pursuit of dominance in the semiconductor industry is unreasonable and imposes burdens or restrictions on U.S. trade, and therefore falls within the scope of the response," the U.S. Trade Representative's office said.
What does that mean
Also, the decision to refrain from imposing new duties was another signal that the Donald Trump administration is seeking to stabilize relations with China and cement the agreements reached by Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in October in South Korea, Bloomberg notes.
As part of the agreement, Washington and Beijing agreed to avoid steep increases in trade fees and to ease restrictions on exports of technology and critical minerals.
The investigation into the supply of Chinese chips to the U.S. market began during the administration of previous President Joe Biden: it was supposed to be completed within 12 months, Reuters notes.
Context
China in September this year banned the country's largest technology companies, including ByteDance and Alibaba, from buying some of Nvidia's chips, reinforcing its drive to develop its own semiconductor industry and reduce dependence on the United States, sources told the Financial Times. At the time, they were talking about orders for RTX Pro 6000D chips, an Nvidia product designed specifically for the PRC market.
In early December, it was reported that major Chinese companies, including Alibaba and ByteDance, approached Nvidia about purchasing another chip - the H200, the second most powerful in the company's lineup for artificial intelligence. On Dec. 8, U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. government would allow Nvidia to export the H200 to China, but would charge a 25 percent levy on such shipments. Nvidia is telling Chinese customers that it intends to start shipping the H200 to China by mid-February 2026, Reuters wrote on Dec. 22, citing three sources. That said, Chinese authorities have not yet given the green light to purchase the H200.
This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor
