August 6, 2026 | By Keith Martin in Washington, DC
A Trump presidential proclamation released late this afternoon set minimum import prices for imported polysilicon, polysilicon ingots, wafers, solar cells and solar modules and imposed a 15% tariff on such products.
These measures will apply to such products imported on or after December 4, 2026.
The minimum import prices are follows:
$21 per kilogram of polysilicon
$100 per kilogram of polysilicon ingots or wafers
22¢ per watt for solar cells
38¢ per watt of solar modules.
Importers bringing in products at lower prices will have to pay the difference between the first arm's-length sale price of the products and the minimum import price as an additional duty to the US government. Importers may use the price established "pursuant to fixed terms in a contract entered into" before August 6, 2026 as the import price for this purpose.
The new 15% tariff will be the maximum tariff on such products manufactured in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the 27 country European Union.
The maximum tariff will be 10% for such products manufactured in the United Kingdom.
The proclamation directs the Commerce Department to entertain onshoring plans from manufacturers to "build, refurbish, or expand" factories in the United States to make the covered products in exchange for a break on tariffs. Construction must begin by January 20, 2029.
The proclamation authorizes Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to allow companies whose onshoring plans are approved "to import necessary production equipment and [covered products], in volumes the Secretary deems commensurate with the company's newly committed investment, without paying applicable section 232 duties."
It also authorizes Lutnick to adjust the minimum import prices and tariffs on products from any trading partner that establishes "a substantially equivalent minimum import price." The proclamation describes this as action by the trading partner to "adopt substantially equivalent import adjusting action modeled after our [minimum import price]."
The proclamation and annexes link: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/08/adjusting-imports-of-polysilicon-and-its-derivatives-into-the-united-states/
The proclamation warns that anyone stockpiling imported polysilicon or products before December 4 this year risks having the government "restrict imports by the company and its affiliates."
The actions are being taken on national security grounds under authority given to the president in section 232 of the Trade Expansion of 1962. That section gives the president broad authority to restrict imports when they are found to threaten US national security.
According to the proclamation, US polysilicon production fell from 50% of global output in 2005 to less than 2% in 2024. The US share of global capacity to make semiconductor wafers fell from 37% in 1990 and 10% in 2024 and "in the solar sector, the United States is virtually entirely dependent on imports of solar ingots, wafers, and cells."