Chinese Tungsten to Face 25% Tariff, Tariffs on Chinese Polysilicon to Double Jan. 1

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is hiking tariffs on Chinese solar wafers and polysilicon to 50% and Chinese tungsten products covered by Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheadings 8101.94.00, 8101.99.10 and 8101.99.80 will face 25% tariffs, beginning Jan. 1.

These hikes were not originally part of the Section 301 action review, but the office received a request to hike tariffs on tungsten, and said that doing so made sense in light of the tariffs on other critical minerals. It also received a request to double tariffs on solar cell inputs. The administration already planned to raise the tariffs on solar cells.

The official notice said that after USTR said it planned these hikes, comments were split on tungsten. "Comments opposing increases primarily assert limited availability of tungsten products outside of China, estimating that China accounts for approximately 80 percent of global tungsten reserves, and insufficient quantities available from third country sources," the office said.

But USTR said that although commenters said higher costs for tungsten would increase production costs, it believes that relying on China for these products puts national security at risk, and higher tariffs on Chinese imports are needed to give domestic production breathing room. The tungsten products currently have no duty applied.

The tariffs on 2804.61.00 and 3818.00.00 will go from 25% now to 50% on Jan. 1.

"Nearly all comments support increasing tariffs on polysilicon, noting the importance of the tariffs in helping to ensure the development and growth of the domestic industry producing polysilicon and downstream products and develop[ing] alternative supply chains outside of China," the notice said, though some who supported the increase said the hike should be delayed to give domestic producers more time to ramp up production.