The 100% tariffs on semiconductors announced by the White House last week opened a whole new world of chaos and uncertainty for electronics companies that use chips, and the prices they charge. 

DF Electronics makes circuit board assemblies in Cincinnati, Ohio. Think circuit boards, but with all the gizmos and things that turn it into finished electronic equipment.

“Our customers are original equipment manufacturers in various industries, from medical, we sell for commercial dryers, a variety of applications,” said Ann Fine, a vice president at the company.

Finished circuit boards need chips, sometimes dozens of them, and 100% tariffs on each little one would be a problem.

“You take a $6 chip and all of a sudden it becomes $12. Not to mention the 100% on all the penny parts and 30-cent parts and 60-cent parts, and it can start to get really impactful,” Fine said.

She said she worries if these costs get passed along the supply chain — which she will definitely have to do — her customers won’t buy as much because their customers won’t buy as much.

“It’s hard to see how prices are not going to go up across a whole range of goods, consumer goods, big tech and cars,” said Adam Segal at the Council on Foreign Relations.

For some goods, like TVs, computer chips don’t make up a big portion of the material costs, and your average consumer might not see a huge difference, said Chris Rogers, head of supply chain research at S&P Global Market Intelligence. 

“Where you might actually see a bigger impact is on some of the higher-end electronic devices, so things like the servers used for artificial intelligence, electric vehicles,” he said.

The U.S. makes just a third of the chips we consume, according to Jason Miller, professor of supply chain management at University of Michigan.

“Our existing productive capacity in no way shape or form can meet domestic demand needs,” he said.

While that changes, if that changes, we’d be stuck with higher prices. There are tariff exceptions for semiconductor manufacturers who build in the U.S., but despite promises by some chip makers, it’s a tall order.

And, Miller said, even if some semiconductor production does move here to avoid tariffs, prices would still go up, because it’s more expensive to make them here.