U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer walked through Texas Instruments' half-built semiconductor plant in Lehi last week, using the $11 billion project as a backdrop to defend President Donald Trump's tariff policy against mounting criticism over rising prices. Greer toured the Lehi fab while U.S. consumer prices climbed about 3.7% annually last month, and he rejected the idea that tariffs are to blame.
Greer, who serves as U.S. Trade Representative, visited the Texas Instruments semiconductor plant under construction in Lehi as part of his defense of Trump's tariffs, according to KSL News. He argued the Trump administration's goal is to bring more manufacturing to the United States and strengthen domestic supply lines for critical components like semiconductors. Greer said unfair trade practices by China and other countries, fueled by cheap labor and government subsidies, have overwhelmed American manufacturing, and that tariffs on overseas goods keep them from outcompeting U.S. companies. He added that tariffs level the playing field so Texas Instruments can earn a return on its Lehi investment, and that the strategy is meant to tariff goods that can be produced domestically while keeping duties low on goods the country must still import.
An $11 Billion Bet On Lehi
Texas Instruments announced plans on Feb. 15, 2023, to build its next 300-millimeter semiconductor wafer fabrication plant in Lehi, right next to its existing fab, calling the $11 billion investment the largest economic investment in Utah history, according to Texas Instruments. The company broke ground on the new fab, known as LFAB2, on Nov. 2, 2023, and said first production could be available as early as 2026, per Texas Instruments investor relations. LFAB2 will connect to TI's existing fab, LFAB1, which itself began production in 2022, about a year after the company purchased the facility.
The expansion is expected to create approximately 800 additional TI jobs as well as thousands of indirect jobs, though the company has not provided salary ranges for those new positions while construction continues, per KSL News. At full production, TI's two Utah fabs are expected to manufacture tens of millions of analog and embedded-processing chips every day, the company says. The new facility was also designed to meet LEED Gold version 4 standards, with a goal of running on 100% renewable electricity and recycling water at nearly twice the rate of the existing Lehi fab.
Making The Case Against A Tariff-Driven Price Spike
Pressed on the connection between tariffs and the cost of living, Greer said the U.S. has no tariffs on beef, oranges or bananas, and that most food consumed domestically is produced within the country, according to KSL News. Trump imposed broad tariffs on imported goods and later exempted beef, coffee, tropical fruits and other commodities from those duties in November 2025, the outlet reported. Greer maintained that any tariff-related price increase would amount to a one-time bump when the duties are first introduced rather than an ongoing driver of inflation, telling Deseret News, “If there's a price effect from tariffs, it's like a one-time thing.” He also said the purpose of tariffs is to protect domestic suppliers.
The inflation picture Greer is pushing back against is a real one. U.S. consumer prices rose 0.6% in September, bringing annual inflation to 3.7%, CNBC reported, with gasoline prices up 9.1% accounting for about half of that monthly increase. Steel prices also jumped 25% recently as tariff-driven demand for domestic supply outpaced production, per the same Deseret News report. Greer has insisted that Trump's tariff regime is not contributing to the increased level of inflation.
What The Research Shows
Outside economic research tells a more complicated story. Researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that nearly 90% of the 2025 tariffs were passed through to U.S. import prices, with the effect showing up within the first month after a tariff increase, according to the bank's Liberty Street Economics analysis. The same researchers estimated that each one-percentage-point increase in average tariffs raises consumer-goods prices by about a quarter of a percent after one year, and that a 10% tariff on all imports would push consumer-goods prices up 2.6% after twelve months. A separate New York Federal Reserve report found that consumers saw a 2.9% cost increase on 67 types of goods because of tariffs imposed beginning in 2025, and that prices on those same goods would have decreased by nearly 1% without the tariffs.
Greer's response to cost-of-living concerns centers on wages rather than price relief. He said manufacturing jobs pay more on average than service jobs, and that better jobs and wages are the administration's proposed solution to affordability worries, according to KSL News. The administration is betting that tariffs protect jobs in the short term while fueling higher-paying manufacturing work over the long run, even if there is some short-term pain along the way.
A Legal Cloud Over Tariff Authority
The Lehi project remains under construction, with Texas Instruments' two Utah fabs still on track to turn out millions of chips a day once both plants reach full production.
