Reuters, citing sources, said the administration plans to release the findings of its Section 232 investigation into polysilicon as soon as Thursday (local time), with a 15 percent tariff slated for imported polysilicon derivatives.
Polysilicon is a core material in both solar products and semiconductors, leaving Korean companies exposed to whatever emerges from the U.S. probe.
Bloomberg, in an article headlined on Trump's push to shore up U.S. polysilicon, reported that officials had spent recent days weighing a tariff of at least 15 percent alongside minimum import prices spanning raw polysilicon, wafers, cells and modules.
The administration is also readying a temporary offset program to shield domestic manufacturers that rely on imported feedstock, though relief would hinge on the scale of each firm's U.S. capital investment.
Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act empowers the president to restrict imports through tariffs or other means where a product is judged to threaten national security. The Commerce Department opened its polysilicon inquiry in July of last year, the latest in a decade of intermittent U.S. efforts to loosen China's grip on a supply chain it overwhelmingly dominates.
US domestic advocates have pressed the administration to train its fire on Chinese and China-linked polysilicon, arguing for duties steep enough to offset Beijing's overcapacity and below-cost pricing.
Seoul, in comments filed with Commerce last August, urged special consideration so any restrictions could be applied flexibly to Korean firms, warning that sweeping tariffs risked disrupting supply chains bound up in Korean investments in U.S. solar and chip production.
The government singled out Hanwha Qcells' panel plant in Georgia and OCI's solar-cell facility in Texas, asking that both be spared.
Hanwha Qcells, which sources all its U.S.-bound polysilicon from Malaysia, proposed a $10-per-kg tariff on imports paired with duty-free quotas of about 20,000 tons a year from Germany and Malaysia, while OCI, citing a supply chain scrubbed of forced labor and foreign entities of concern, asked that fair-trade semiconductor-grade polysilicon be excluded altogether.
AJP Takeaway:
• What happened: The Trump administration could announce as early as Thursday (local time) a 15 percent tariff on foreign polysilicon derivatives, along with minimum import prices on wafers, cells and modules, following the conclusion of its Section 232 national security probe.
• Why it matters: Polysilicon is a core input for both solar panels and semiconductors, and sweeping U.S. restrictions threaten to disrupt the supply chains underpinning billions of dollars in Korean investment in American solar and chip production.
• By the numbers: The proposed rate is 15 percent — milder than the punitive duties U.S. producers sought — while relief under a temporary offset program would depend on the scale of each firm's U.S. capital investment. Hanwha Qcells has proposed a $10-per-kg tariff paired with duty-free quotas of about 20,000 tonnes a year from Germany and Malaysia.
• The bigger picture: Korea's Hanwha Qcells and OCI have already built U.S. footprints in Georgia and Texas, which may be their strongest defense if the final proclamation offers no carve-out. Compounding the squeeze, Beijing renewed anti-dumping duties of up to 57 percent on U.S. and Korean solar-grade polysilicon in January, leaving Korean producers caught between two tariff walls at once.
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