Overview

• Speaking to reporters on Sept. 16 before departing Washington, Trump said semiconductors and pharmaceuticals could be charged higher import duties than automobiles.
• He argued those sectors have larger profit margins, suggesting they are suitable targets for steeper tariffs.
• He has previously floated roughly 100 percent tariffs on chips and phased drug levies that rise from small initial rates to 150 percent and later 250 percent.
• He rejected the notion that lowering auto tariffs to 15 percent for South Korea, Japan and the European Union was a compromise, saying those economies had paid nothing before.
• He linked the next steps to a Supreme Court case on his global tariff policy and said a favorable ruling would finalize the tariff agenda under Section 232.