WASHINGTON — US officials are privately saying that they might not levy long-promised semiconductor tariffs soon, potentially delaying a centerpiece of President Donald Trump’s economic agenda.

Officials relayed these messages over the last several days to stakeholders in government and private industry, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter and a third person briefed on the conversations. A fourth person following the matter also said the administration was taking a more cautious approach to avoid provoking China. The discussions have not been previously reported.

Trump aides are taking their time on chip tariffs as they work to avoid a rupture with Beijing over trade issues, which would risk a return to a tit-for-tat trade war and disruption of the flow of critical rare earth minerals, according to two of the people.

Those people cautioned that no decision is final until the administration signs off on it, and also said that triple-digit tariffs could be imposed at any time. The sources spoke anonymously in order to recount private conversations about policy deliberations.

Mr. Trump said in August that the United States would impose a tariff of about 100% on imports of semiconductors but exempted companies that are manufacturing in the US or have committed to do so. Privately, over the last several months, Washington officials had told people that the administration would roll out the tariffs soon. That guidance has now changed as the administration has continued to debate the timing and other details.

A White House spokesman and a Commerce Department official, asked about the discussions, disputed that the administration had adjusted its posture.

“The Trump Administration remains committed to using every lever of executive power to reshore the manufacturing that’s critical to our national and economic security,” said the spokesman, Kush Desai. “Any anonymously-sourced reports suggesting otherwise are simply Fake News.”

The Commerce official said, “There is no change in department policy regarding semiconductor 232 tariffs.” Neither specified how soon tariffs that have been threatened since the early days of the Trump administration would be finalized, nor did they offer any other details.

The Chinese embassy in Washington said cooperation between the two countries on semiconductors is the best approach. “We welcome the US to work with China to implement the consensus reached at the Busan summit between the two heads of state, create a favorable environment for mutually beneficial cooperation between companies from both sides, and jointly maintain the stability of the global semiconductor supply chain,” said the spokesperson, Liu Pengyu.

TRUMP FACES PRESSURE ON CONSUMER PRICES
Any decision by the administration to slow down or narrow the scope of chip tariffs would come at a sensitive time for Mr. Trump. The Republican president is facing growing consumer angst over prices heading into the holiday shopping season.

Hiking taxes on imported semiconductors could raise consumer costs on the gadgets they power, from refrigerators to smartphones. Reuters reported in September that the Trump administration was looking at a plan that would also tax foreign electronic devices based on the number of chips in each one.

Mr. Trump rolled back tariffs on more than 200 food products last week, but he has also said that his import taxes have made no significant contribution to inflation. The US government shutdown has delayed recent data on consumer prices, but inflation has been running above the Federal Reserve’s target since former President Joe Biden held office.

Mr. Trump is also trying to maintain a delicate trade truce with China, a top manufacturer of both semiconductors and devices powered by them. Last month, Trump met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea, and reached an agreement to set aside their trade issues, for now.

During those conversations in Korea, US officials nonetheless warned their Chinese counterparts that they could take national security steps in the coming months that Beijing might find objectionable, according to two people familiar with those conversations. Mr. Trump has bet that tariffs can revive domestic factory jobs lost over decades to countries including China.

In April, the Trump administration announced investigations into imports of pharmaceuticals and semiconductors as part of a bid to impose tariffs on them, arguing that extensive reliance on their foreign production poses a national security threat. — Reuters

LONDON — Two dozen of the world’s richest nations, including the United States and Japan, are pulling back from their global development push, a study published on Thursday shows, with many slashing aid budgets and cash funneled through multilateral lenders.

The Commitment to Development Index ranks 38 major economies across more than 100 data points to assess how their policies affect poorer nations across development finance, investment, migration, trade, environment and health as well as security and technology.

Sweden, Germany, Norway, and Finland kept their place at the top of the list, which is compiled and published by Washington-based think tank Center for Global Development every two years.

The United Kingdom gained two places to become number 5 in the latest ranking. That was based on data prior to the government announcing its 40% aid cut, which is expected to see the country slide lower again in future index estimates.

Meanwhile, the United States fell two places to number 28 in the ranking in this latest report; however, this did not reflect the billions of dollars in cuts in aid announced since Donald Trump became president.

“The changes the Trump administration is making are very significant,” said Ian Mitchell, a senior policy fellow at the CGD, predicting a further slide ahead.

The ranking is being published as South Africa is gearing up to host leaders of the Group of 20 major economies this weekend where it will also hand over its presidency to the United States.

Mr. Trump, who has slashed the US foreign aid budget and shuttered USAID earlier this year, will not attend the first G20 summit in Africa. Aid and development financing has been cut by many developed economies in favor of defense spending.

There were some bright spots in the index, said Mr. Mitchell.

More than three-quarters of countries were cutting their emissions between 2019-2023, the research found, even though a rise in China lifted the overall level. More countries were hosting migrants and refugees, he added.

“While some improved on migration or environment, overall the trend is backward with arms exports, trade barriers and fossil fuel subsidies all rising,” CGD said. — Reuters

BELEM, Brazil — Decades-long coal-fired power purchase contracts are slowing the transition to cleaner energy sources in Asia, leading utilities to burn more coal even when wind and solar power are available, according to climate researchers and renewable energy advocates.

Rising dependence on coal for power generation in countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam is a major obstacle to global efforts to combat climate change, exacerbated by stalled funding for renewable energy projects from rich countries.

Southeast Asia has 50% to 100% of coal-fired power capacity locked in purchase agreements with about nine to 18 years left on average, according to data from the Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA), a coalition of governments, businesses and other organizations pushing for coal use to be phased out.

Buyers in other major Asian economies, like China and India, also hold substantial long-term purchase agreements for coal-fired electricity, leading to underutilization of wind and solar power in some cases, renewable energy experts say.

“Many of these contracts are often ill-suited to the demands of a modern, renewables-integrated grid,” Julia Skorupska, head of secretariat at the PPCA told Reuters on the sidelines of the Conference of the Parties (COP30) climate conference in Brazil.

STEADY INCOME AND STABLE JOBS
Southeast Asia’s dependence on coal has grown to about 45% of annual power generation from 35% over the last decade, even as the global share has slipped to around 34% from 39%, data from energy think tank Ember showed.

Clean energy adoption in the region has also lagged global averages, amounting to 26% of annual electricity output compared with 41% globally, the data showed.

Long-term fossil fuel contracts guarantee steady income for coal plant owners and stable jobs for employees, making early retirement politically and economically unattractive, industry officials say.

And when power grids break their coal purchase agreements, they expose themselves to financial penalties that vary depending on the nature of the contract and size of shortfalls.

COAL IN CHINA AND INDIA
Even in China, where carbon dioxide emissions are on track to fall this year, extending an 18-month streak of flat or falling emissions due mainly to increased clean power generation, demand for coal remains high.

Output from its coal and gas-fired power plants rose 7.3% annually in October, government data showed.

“The concern is that we’re seeing a repeat of what happened at the end of last year when grid operators had contracted too much coal power under long-term contracts and decided to curtail solar and wind,” said Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst of the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

Major economies in the Asia-Pacific region including Japan, Australia and India have also reported increased curbs on renewable energy this year.

China’s solar curtailment rates are projected to average more than 5% in 21 provinces over the next 10 years, up from just 10 provinces during January to August this year, according to consultancy Wood Mackenzie.

Indian states, meanwhile, plan to sign new long-term contracts with coal-fired power generators despite the country’s efforts to expand clean energy capacity.

Electricity retailers’ reliance on multi-decade contracts with coal-fired utilities amid growing renewable generation risks of payment of substantial fixed charges and stranded coal assets, Ember and Climate Trends said in a joint report.

“Distribution companies would need to redesign their resource planning and make power purchase contracts flexible,” said Shreya Jai, energy lead at Climate Trends and one of the authors of the report. — Reuters