USTR Announces Tariff Hikes on Chinese Semiconductor Products Starting June 2027

On December 23, 2025 (local time), the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced that it will impose additional tariffs on semiconductor products imported from China starting June 23, 2027. The specific tariff rates will be announced at least one month in advance. This tariff increase stems from the Section 301 investigation into China's mature-process chips launched by the Biden administration at the end of 2024, focusing on mature processes of 28nm and above, covering downstream application areas such as automotive, medical care, and national defense.

The U.S. side claimed that China's semiconductor industry policies are "unreasonable" and that China is expected to account for nearly half of the world's new mature-node semiconductor production capacity in the next three to five years, which will lead to global supply chain dependence and harm U.S. commercial interests. Notably, the new tariffs will not take effect immediately; current relevant products will remain subject to a zero tariff rate, reserving an 18-month adjustment period for the global industrial chain, and will not involve end products containing Chinese chips for the time being.

China has long held a clear stance on this. China's Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Embassy in the United States have all expressed strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition, pointing out that the U.S. side's politicization and instrumentalization of economic, trade, and technological issues violate market laws, undermine the stability of the global supply chain, and will ultimately backfire on itself. China has built a countermeasure system through measures such as anti-dumping investigations, WTO anti-discrimination litigation, and export controls on rare earth technologies to resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.

The next 18 months will become a critical buffer period for the game between China and the United States in the semiconductor industry. Global enterprises need to adjust their supply chain layouts in advance to cope with potential changes in the trade pattern.