The United States announced on Wednesday that it will impose a 25-percent tariff on certain imported semiconductors, semiconductor manufacturing equipment and related derivative products starting Thursday.
According to a proclamation by U.S. President Donald Trump posted on the website of the White House, he outlined a two-phase plan in light of suggestion from U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick. In the first phase, Trump said, the United States will continue negotiations with foreign authorities capable of strengthening the U.S. semiconductor industry.
Meanwhile, he said the 25-percent tariff is being applied immediately to a small portion of imported semiconductors, semiconductor manufacturing equipment and derivatives deemed critical to U.S. artificial intelligence and technology policy.
The proclamation said that once the relevant negotiations are completed, the United States will extend tariffs to a wider range of imported semiconductors at a significant rate during the second phase.
The proclamation also said that Lutnick proposed a tariff-offset mechanism, under which companies that invest in semiconductor production and supply chain within the United States will be eligible for preferential tariff treatment.
In early August 2025, Trump declared that the United States would move to impose 100-percent tariffs on imported semiconductor products.
US imposes 25 percent tariff on imports of certain semiconductors
US imposes 25 percent tariff on imports of certain semiconductors
US imposes 25 percent tariff on imports of certain semiconductors
Axis powers during World War II should offer sincere reflection and apology, a Greek mayor said after Greece successfully repatriated a rare collection of 262 World War II-era photographs.
Greek officials traveled to Belgium to negotiate with the seller and brought the photographs back to Greece, after they were put up for sale online by a Belgian collector, said the Greek Culture Ministry.
The images were taken by Wehrmacht lieutenant Hermann Heuer, who served in Greece from 1943 to 1944, during World War II, and part of the collection documents the mass execution of Greek communists by Nazi troops in Kaisariani, east of Athens.
During World War II, German occupation in Greece met with fierce resistance. On May 1, 1944, German forces executed 200 Greeks at the Kaisariani firing range in retaliation for the killing of a German general by resistance fighters.
A memorial and a museum were set up after the war in Kaisariani to commemorate those who died in the mass execution.
"The photos really shocked us all because they were real documents from the day of the execution. We are shocked for many reasons. An important reason is that the 200 communists were singing with their heads held high before the execution in the photos, and they were not mourning because they were fighters," said Ilias Stamelos, mayor of Kaisariani.
The newly recovered photographs have drawn renewed attention to the historical trauma still felt in the community, as the images provide a direct visual record of the final moments of those executed.
In 1987, then German President Richard von Weizsaecker visited Greece and made a special stop in Kaisariani, reflecting on the profound suffering inflicted on the Greek people by Germany during World War II.
Ilias said that, like Germany, Japan, another Axis power during the war, should also be held accountable for the massive harm it caused to multiple countries and should offer sincere reflection and apology for its wartime aggression.
"And I think it's a common demand, because those responsible for the deaths in the World War II need to pay for what happened. It's known to all that back then it was Germany, Japan and Italy, the allies in this war, that each played different roles in the war, yet they do have common responsibilities," said the mayor.
Historic photos of Nazi mass execution of Greeks returned to Greece, mayor calls for historical accountability
