Politico sources report the Trump administration is drafting another round of tariffs on semiconductors, aiming to push chipmakers toward US-based production. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick reportedly favors letting companies import chips duty-free up to a threshold linked to their domestic investment, though the exact terms remain unsettled. The move would layer new costs onto PCs, consoles and data centers already strained by memory shortages.
techspot.com
· 2026-08-28
Politico reports the Trump administration is considering wide-ranging tariffs that could extend beyond raw semiconductors to products built with them, such as gaming consoles, servers and data-center equipment, with an announcement possible within weeks or months. Sources familiar with internal discussions say the exact scope remains unsettled, but one option under review would sharply broaden the list of taxed tech goods.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-08-27
Citing eight unnamed sources, POLITICO reports the Trump administration is considering a second wave of semiconductor tariffs that would hit finished products like laptops, gaming consoles, and data center servers, not just chips themselves. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick reportedly favors tying duty-free chip import limits to each company's committed U.S. manufacturing output, and officials have signaled that exemptions granted under January's Proclamation 11002 for data centers, startups, and consumer devices might not survive into this next phase.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-08-27
Indie publisher Panic is returning the tariff fees it had charged Playdate buyers, after a court ruling deemed the Trump administration's import taxes illegal and ordered refunds to affected companies. Panic said it has now received its own tariff refunds and passed that money back to customers who had paid the added charge as a line item on their orders.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-08-27
The webcomic XKCD published a strip poking fun at the logic and rhetoric surrounding international trade and tariffs. As with all XKCD content, the comic is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license, allowing free sharing but not commercial resale.
xkcd.com
· 2026-08-27
Politico reports the Trump administration is considering expanding semiconductor tariffs to cover finished consumer electronics like laptops and gaming consoles, and potentially smartphones and accessories, rather than just standalone chip imports. Companies investing in US-based chip manufacturing could be granted exemptions, but building such facilities typically takes years and billions of dollars, meaning near-term relief is unlikely.
androidauthority.com
· 2026-08-27
New analysis of trade data breaks down the 2025 tariff exchange between Washington and Ottawa into three measurable pieces: duties U.S. importers have actually paid on Canadian goods, Canada's retaliatory tariffs on American exports, and a modeled estimate of how much of that cost gets passed on to American households through higher prices. The household figure is explicitly flagged as an estimate rather than a hard count, since no government dataset tracks how much of a tariff businesses pass on versus absorb.
thetariffcost.com
· 2026-08-26
Canada confirmed a new round of tariffs matching Washington's 50% duties, covering more than 700 American products worth roughly $20 billion, set to take effect September 8. The move follows the collapse of trade talks last week, with both governments blaming each other for last-minute demands. Ottawa specifically doubled its tariff on U.S. steel and aluminum to 50% in direct response to similar U.S. levies.
cnbc.com
· 2026-08-26
CNBC reported that the U.S. Treasury Department is considering tapping its roughly $950 billion General Account to help finance its bond buyback program. Senior Treasury officials did not specify how much of that fund would be used but confirmed it remains an option after Secretary Scott Bessent unexpectedly expanded the buyback effort last week. Treasury yields fell following the report.
cnbc.com
· 2026-08-24
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