By JOSH BOAK

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he will impose a 100% tariff on computer chips, likely raising the cost of electronics, autos, household appliances and other goods deemed essential for the digital age.

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“We’ll be putting a tariff on of approximately 100% on chips and semiconductors,” Trump said in the Oval Office while meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook. “But if you’re building in the United States of America, there’s no charge.”

The Republican president said companies that make computer chips in the U.S. would be spared the import tax. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a shortage of computer chips increased the price of autos and contributed to an overall uptick in inflation.

Inquiries sent to chip makers Nvidia and Intel were not immediately answered.

Demand for computer chips has been climbing worldwide, with sales increasing 19.6% in the year-ended in June, according to the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics organization.

Trump’s tariff threats mark a significant break from existing plans to revive computer chip production in the United States. He is choosing an approach that favors the proverbial stick over carrots in order to incentivize more production. Essentially, the president is betting that higher chip costs would force most companies to open factories domestically, despite the risk that tariffs could squeeze corporate profits and push up prices for mobile phones, TVs and refrigerators.

By contrast, the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act signed into law in 2022 by then-President Joe Biden provided more than $50 billion to support new computer chip plants, fund research and train workers for the industry. The mix of funding support, tax credits and other financial incentives were meant to draw in private investment, a strategy that Trump has vocally opposed.

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — IndyCar driver Pato O’Ward and series officials were shocked by a social media post from the Department of Homeland Security that touts plans for an immigration detention center in Indiana dubbed “Speedway Slammer,” and includes a car with the same number as the only Mexican driver in the series.

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“It caught a lot of people off guard. Definitely caught me off guard,” O’Ward said Wednesday. “I was just a little bit shocked at the coincidences of that and, you know, of what it means. … I don’t think it made a lot of people proud, to say the least.”

The post Tuesday included an image of a IndyCar-style vehicle with the No. 5 that had “ICE” imposed on it multiple times similar to the display of a sponsor. It appeared to be a computer-created image, with the car on a track and a prison-like building in the background.

Indiana is home to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and is where the IndyCar Series is based.

“We were unaware of plans to incorporate our imagery as part of yesterday’s announcement,” IndyCar said in a statement Wednesday. “Consistent with our approach to public policy and political issues, we are communicating our preference that our IP not be utilized moving forward in relation to this matter.”

O’Ward said he didn’t see the post until a friend texted him about it.

“I haven’t really read into it too much because I don’t think I want to,” he said.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a separate post used “SpeedwaySlammer” when announcing the new partnership with the state of Indiana to expand detention space by 1,000 beds.

The 26-year-old O’Ward, who was born in Monterrey, Mexico, is second in points, though Alex Palou can clinch the IndyCar season title as early as this weekend in Portland. O’Ward was in Texas to promote next year’s inaugural Grand Prix of Arlington.

That race on March 15 will be on a 2.7-mile layout that goes around the home stadiums of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys and MLB’s Texas Rangers. O’Ward threw a ceremonial first pitch before the Rangers’ game against the New York Yankees.

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

NEW YORK (AP) — WhatsApp has taken down 6.8 million accounts that were “linked to criminal scam centers” targeting people online around that world, its parent company Meta said this week.

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The account deletions, which Meta said took place over the first six months of the year, arrive as part of wider company efforts to crack down on scams. In a Tuesday announcement, Meta said it was also rolling new tools on WhatsApp to help people spot scams — including a new safety overview that the platform will show when someone who is not in a user’s contacts adds them to a group, as well as ongoing test alerts to pause before responding.

Scams are becoming all too common and increasingly sophisticated in today’s digital world — with too-good-to-be-true offers and unsolicited messages attempting to steal consumers’ information or money filling our phones, social media and other corners of the internet each day. Meta noted that “some of the most prolific” sources of scams are criminal scam centers, which often span from forced labor operated by organized crime — and warned that such efforts often target people on many platforms at once, in attempts to evade detection.

That means that a scam campaign may start with messages over text or a dating app, for example, and then move to social media and payment platforms, the California-based company said.

Meta, which also owns Facebook and Instagram, pointed to recent scam efforts that it said attempted to use its own apps — as well as TikTok, Telegram and AI-generated messages made using ChatGPT — to offer payments for fake likes, enlist people into a pyramid scheme and/or lure others into cryptocurrency investments. Meta linked these scams to a criminal scam center in Cambodia — and said it disrupted the campaign in partnership with ChatGPT maker OpenAI.

An American League Central Division that seemed to be tightly entrenched in Detroit’s grip for the bulk of this season may be slipping away from the Tigers.

OK, Detroit still has a six-game lead on Cleveland, even after the Guardians completed a sweep of the New York Mets on Wednesday, while the Tigers dropped a 9-4 game to the Twins to lose the three-game series in Detroit.

But losing two out of three to a club that just traded half its roster less than a week ago certainly isn’t ideal for the division leaders, who’ve now dropped 16 of their last 23 bouts.

The scariest thing for Detroit had to be the manner in which the three games played out. The Tigers were largely outclassed by what’s left of this Twins’ roster outside of one inning from Noah Davis, who’s no longer with the major league club.

Wednesday was no exception.

Making his second major league appearance since 2023, Thomas Hatch came on in relief of Pierson Ohl and threw 4 1/3 innings of two-hit ball, and Kody Funderburk and Brooks Kriske each threw a scoreless frame to slam the door on the series victory on a day where Minnesota roughed up another Tigers starter.

Jack Flaherty didn’t survive five innings Wednesday, surrendering eight hits and five earned runs. Luke Keaschall hit a pair of doubles to knock in three runs as the 22-year-old has roared out of the gates since returning to the majors. Alan Roden, Brooks Lee and Austin Martin all hit homers on a day in which the Twins pounded out 11 hits.

The Twins logged 20 hits combined over their past two games in Detroit against a Tigers pitching staff that, outside of vaunted ace Tarik Skubal, is struggling to get anyone out.

Casey Mize is a success story, but he has struggled mightily over the past month. Flaherty hasn’t been good enough. Chris Paddack is not a solution. And Detroit’s bullpen is a liability. The Tigers’ hope at this point is that Reese Olson can return in time for the playoffs, and that he’s effective when he does so.

Can these Tigers simply hang on over the final two months of the season to win a downtrodden division? Avoiding a cataclysmic collapse seems to be about the ceiling for Detroit at the moment.

The Tigers’ free fall is a reminder that divisional title hopes are never as far fetched as you may believe in the American League Central, where no one is great, and nearly all success is short-lived.

The Twins bowed out of this year’s hunt via their tumble and transactions over the past few weeks. But even as currently constructed, they don’t appear to be far off the standard required to compete in this undercard race that lacks a true runaway stallion.

A few young, talented hitters and pillars such as Byron Buxton, Pablo Lopez and Joe Ryan equates to about as much as anyone else has to offer. As dire as the future looked for this organization a week ago — and it’s certainly not beaming — perhaps contention may not be as far away as initially perceived.

That’s something that should be on the minds of fans, the front office and ownership — whoever that includes at the time — this offseason.

Long live the AL Central, where mediocrity breeds eternal optimism.

Luke Keaschall #15 of the Minnesota Twins hits a RBI double in the fifth inning while playing the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park on Aug. 06, 2025 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
Minnesota Twins pitcher Thomas Hatch throws against the Detroit Tigers in the fifth inning during a baseball game Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)