US imposes two new tariffs
The US is imposing new tariffs on products containing minerals, in line with a proclamation from January whose deadline fell this summer. Countries without a trade agreement must pay the full rates. Norway is among them, and the government has still given no account of the situation.
August 19, 2026
Image by AI/S&P
The US imposes tariffs on goods containing minerals
The new permanent US tariff regime was introduced with a general tariff under Section 301 tied to forced labour on 24 July this year. A further tariff under the same section, tied to overcapacity, is expected this autumn.
On 6 August, President Donald Trump signed a new proclamation imposing tariffs on polysilicon and derivative products. A week later, on 13 August, he signed a corresponding proclamation on drones and drone components. In both cases the legal basis is Section 232, which allows the president to adjust imports when they threaten national security.
That is the same basis underlying Proclamation 11001 (presidential proclamation) of 14 January this year, which established that US import dependence on processed critical minerals and derivative products threatens national security. The administration was tasked with negotiating minerals agreements (ATCM) with allies within 180 days; the deadline expired on 13 July. Depending on the outcome of the negotiations, the proclamation allows the president to take other measures if deemed necessary.
No one has so far concluded an ATCM under Proclamation 11001; some have framework agreements or have entered into a memorandum of understanding and action plan, the EU among them. The US intends to build a Western minerals market capable of offering price floors for the minerals industry, in order to make it sustainable and attract investors. The new tariffs on products containing minerals follow from the fact that no ATCM has been concluded.
Polysilicon is processed silicon, further refined into ingots, wafers and solar cells. Drones contain magnets in the motors, lithium in the batteries and germanium in the thermal sensors. 11001 cites precisely rare earth permanent magnets as an example of a derivative product.
Tariff rate on polysilicon
The proclamation of 6 August introduces minimum prices. Polysilicon cannot be sold in the US below 21 dollars per kilo. Ingots and wafers have a floor of 100 dollars per kilo, solar cells 0.22 dollars per watt, modules 0.38. Importers must document that the first sale in the US takes place at or above the minimum price. If it falls below, they pay the difference in tariff. On top of this comes a 15 per cent tariff on derivative products.
Countries that introduce corresponding minimum prices themselves may obtain more lenient terms.
The tariff and the minimum prices apply from 4 December.
Tariff rate on drones
The proclamation of 13 August has two rates. Drones with a thermal camera, or weighing more than 25 kilos, get 100 per cent. All others get 25. The dividing line is therefore not size alone — a drone weighing a few grams ends up in the top rate if it can see in the dark.
The tariff applies from 3 September, and from 9 February 2027 for components. Companies on the US Department of Defense's Blue UAS list get a deferral until February 2027 for finished drones as well.
Tariff ceilings and exemptions
Certain countries are given upper tariff ceilings in both proclamations. For the EU, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, the total tariff shall not exceed 15 per cent, including the ordinary tariff (MFN). For the United Kingdom the ceiling is 10 per cent. What separates these countries from others is that they have a trade agreement with the US. In this way the proclamations demonstrate American trade policy in practice: countries that conclude an agreement get an upper tariff ceiling, countries that abstain pay the full rate.
The ceiling on drones is moreover conditional. The importer must document that critical components and technology come from the US or from countries the US has a trade agreement with. Without such documentation, the full rate applies.
Both proclamations offer a way out of the tariff. Companies that get a plan approved to move production to the US avoid tariffs on what they import while the plant is being built, provided construction starts by 20 January 2029. Tariff refunds are also granted for goods imported for production and re-export, but only for goods from other countries with a trade agreement.
Consequences for Norwegian industry
The Labour government has refrained from concluding a trade agreement with the US. Norwegian drone exports to the US therefore face a 100 per cent tariff where the EU faces 15. Norwegian wafer production faces 15 per cent in addition to the ordinary tariff, while the EU has 15 per cent as a total ceiling.
Any Norwegian subcontractors are hit as well. A European drone manufacturer only gets the 15 per cent tariff ceiling if the components come from the US or from a country with a trade agreement. If they buy Norwegian parts, they lose the ceiling. So they choose another supplier.
Norwegian exporters do not get the tariff refunded when the goods are processed in the US and sold on. That arrangement is reserved for countries with a trade agreement.
The only way out for Norwegian producers is then to move production to the US.
Comment from Samfunn og Politikk
US trade and minerals policy has been well communicated from Washington. There are no surprises in the development we are now seeing, and there were long negotiating windows before the tariffs were introduced. The US uses tariffs to press countries into both trade agreements and minerals agreements; the new tariffs are an expression of both. Without minerals agreements, the US is building a Western minerals market and minimum prices on its own, product group by product group.
S&P has written several articles on the subject since March 2025 and has foreseen this development. The Labour Party's decisions bear witness to a political strategy in which Norway is economically harmed so that the government gains an alibi for taking Norway into the EU.
SOURCES
The White House
The White House
The White House
The White House
Federal Register
Adjusting Imports of Polysilicon and Its Derivatives Into the United States
U.S. Government Publishing Office
Office of the United States Trade Representative
Request for Comments on the Design of a Plurilateral Agreement on Trade in Critical Minerals
U.S. Department of State
Department of Industry, Science and Resources
Kleinman Center for Energy Policy
Four Impediments to Advancing Critical Minerals Trade Negotiations
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