The Archive — 2022
2022: chips replace tariffs
The instrument changed: Commerce's October 7 controls treated advanced semiconductors as a category of national power, not trade goods. Tariffs stayed frozen while the technology perimeter was drawn.
policy
Section 301 Four-Year Review Opened
USTR formally initiates the statutory four-year review of the Section 301 tariffs, inviting comments from industries that have lived under them since 2018. The review will take two years to conclude.
tech
Comprehensive Semiconductor Controls
Commerce unveils the most sweeping export controls of the era: restrictions on advanced logic and memory chips, the equipment to make them, and U.S. persons supporting Chinese fabs — an explicit attempt to freeze China's frontier AI capabilities.