Electronics manufacturers are facing multiple threats—from Trump-backed tariffs on various goods, including copper, coming into the US, to finding a skilled work force.
Those topics and more are on the minds of company executives attending the IPC APEX Expo in Anaheim, Calif., this week. IPC, an electronics trade association, represents 3,200 member companies focused primarily on electronics design, printed board manufacturing, assembly and testing.
When President Trump recently decided to postpone 25% tariffs affecting electronics and other goods until April 2, IPC President John Mitchell called the postponement “the right move for building strength and resilience in electronics.”
RELATED: IPC electronics trade group praises Trump’s one-month pause on 25% tariffs
But IPC and other trade groups are clearly stepping lightly over how to negotiate with the Trump administration to see other tariffs reduced or eliminated. A 25% tariff on foreign copper, mentioned in the president’s joint address to Congress on March 6, is an industry flash point. Copper was grouped with 25% tariffs on foreign aluminum, lumber and steel in that address. Immediately after the address, copper futures prices jumped nearly 6%.
(Separately, the White House has directed the Department of Commerce to initiate an investigation under the Trade Expansion Act to find several things, including whether US dependence on copper imports threatens national security.)
“There’s no question tariffs both undercut the global supply chain that has evolved over 20 to 30 years, but they also negatively impact US manufacturers,” said Chris Mitchell, IPC’s vice president of global government affairs, speaking from APEX with Fierce. “Our goal is to work with the administration and see how tariffs can be pulled back.”
He added that copper has been a “critically important element of PCB fabrication. To the degree we raise copper on US manufacturers of PCBs, it undermines their competitiveness in the global market....Tariffs, while unintended, have the impact of discouraging sourcing from the US or even within the country.”
For a US-based OEM, tariffs make it difficult to decide whether to source copper from inside or outside the US because copper costs will rise. “Copper and the rising cost of manufacturing puts fabricators to a disadvantage,” Mitchell added.
Mitchell credited the Trump administration for installing technology-savvy officials in key positions in the Departments of Defense and Commerce, which will help IPC underscore the value of what its members make for the sake of competitiveness and US defense. “As an organization, we are always optimistic and we believe there’s an opportunity to engage constructively with this administation. We have confidence we are going to be able to help this administration to understand the impact of tariffs so they can mitigate and achieve the goals they have set. We have the opportunity to do more than in the past.”
IPC is also following the Trump administration’s views on tax reform, to make sure revenue raising strategies “are not hurting our industry,” he said. IPC also hopes to see the defense industrial base strengthened under Trump because electronics are essential to defense projects.
IPC and others in the electronics industry are looking further down the path beyond the recent market downturn and uncertainty. “We’re seeing what everybody’s seeing with the outward appearance of volatility and seeming chaos, but we’re not as focused on what is happening today but what is the game plan for the next year or four years.”