Insights Into a Differentiating Trade/Investment Global Strategy for Electronics

Estimated reading time: 1 minute

To better understand the U.S. administration’s actions on global trade policies earlier this spring, Barry Matties and Nolan Johnson met with Richard Cappetto, IPC’s senior director of North American government relations, who highlighted both the challenges and opportunities available to U.S. companies in the recent trade activity. This could include increased domestic manufacturing and supply chain diversification.

Their discussion covers the Trump administration's tariff strategies and the need for tax incentives. Rich stresses the importance of member participation in advocacy efforts toward more comprehensive federal investment strategies that include printed circuit boards and the full technology stack required to manufacture our critical electronics.

IPC also hosted a series of webinars on tariff activity and its implications on the global electronics industry. Read more about the webinar here.

Barry Matties: This administration's tone toward the CHIPS Act is disappointing. It seems like it fell short of achieving what was promised. There's been talk that this administration will withdraw the CHIPS Act in favor of private sector investment because it is better than tax dollars. How do you see it?

Rich Cappetto: We might see some changes policy-wise, but it looks like the implementation is moving forward. We can expect the Trump administration to differentiate itself from what the prior administration did, especially on the social requirements for those awards. But in his confirmation hearings, Commerce Secretary Lutnick committed to bringing the supply chain back to the U.S., and we’re encouraged by that.

With the new investment accelerator, we're pressing full steam ahead in working with the CHIPS office to ensure that the entire electronics industry value chain in the U.S. is included.

Continue reading this interview in the May 2025 issue of PCB007 Magazine.