The White House imposes a series of price floors and a 15% tariff on products made from polysilicon, a chip raw material primarily produced by China (Reuters)

The White House has imposed a 15% tariff on products made from polysilicon, a raw material used in semiconductors and solar panels. The tariff is part of an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump, which also sets minimum import prices on polysilicon and related products.

The move is intended to protect US manufacturers from increasing competition from China's chip industry. According to the Chinese embassy in Washington, the measures "seriously disrupt" trade between the two countries and Beijing will act to protect its companies.

The tariff and price floors are due to take effect in December, and the US will also offer incentives to boost domestic production. Trump said the US had allowed foreign firms to weaken US producers in the polysilicon sector for decades. The Secretary of Commerce who made the recommendations is Howard Lutnick, as per BBC World.

Brief written by urgent.news from Techmeme, BBC World, BBC Business — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — read the original for the full account.