Trump plans 100% tariffs on Taiwanese chips to force production stateside

Trump plans 100% tariffs on Taiwanese chips to force production stateside

Generic image of a semiconductor

President Trump has unveiled plans to introduce hefty tariffs on semiconductors made in Taiwan to encourage chip manufacturers to bring production to the US.

Speaking at the House Republican Conference at the Trump National Doral Gulf Club in Miami, the President said he plans to introduce tariffs potentially as high as 100% to force chip developers out of Southeast Asia.

“They needed an incentive and the incentive is going to be, they're not going to want to pay a 25, 50 or even 100% tax,” President Trump said. “They're going to build their factory with their own money. We don't have to give them money. They're going to come in because it's good for them to come in.”

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Prior to the election, Trump slammed the Biden administration’s CHIPS and Science Act, which provides federal subsidies to semiconductor firms to encourage them to expand production in the US, threatening to replace it with tariffs.

Despite allies like House Speaker Mike Johnson walking back a statement saying that the government would repeal the CHIPS Act, Trump’s speech signalled an end to the programme, claiming chipmakers were “going to use the money to build in other places, other countries”.

“If you want to stop paying the taxes or the tariffs, you have to build your plant right here in America,” the President said. “That's what's going to happen at record levels. We're going to have more plants built in the next short period of time than anybody ever envisioned before because the incentive is going to be there because they have no tariff whatsoever.”

President Trump didn’t specify when the tariffs would appear, simply saying they’d be introduced “in a very near future”.

Trump repeated his October 2024 attack on the CHIPS Act and Taiwan, even though its subsidies are not exclusive to companies that operate in the country.

“[Semiconductor manufacturers] left us and they went to Taiwan where, which is about 98% of the chip business by the way,” the President said. “We want them to come back and we don't want to give them billions of dollars like this ridiculous program that Biden has give[n] everybody billions of dollars. They already have billions of dollars. They've got nothing but money, Joe [Biden]. They didn't need money.”

The Taiwanese government are set to hold an emergency meeting in response to President Trump’s tariff plans. Premier Cho Jung-tai said it will look to make “more cooperative plans and future assistance programs for the industrial sector”.

“I would like to reassure our compatriots that Taiwan’s position in the world’s industrial chain is not to be ignored and that we will continue to maintain such an advantage.”

In addition to semiconductors, President Trump hinted at introducing “massive” tariffs on steel — a vital material used in the growing construction of data centres, as well as aluminium and copper. The President previously introduced steel tariffs during his first term, back in 2018.

“We have to bring production back to our country,” Trump said. “There was a time when we made one ship a day and now we can't build a ship. We don't know what the hell we're doing. It's all gone to other locations and other lands. And to further return production to the US, we're going to environmentally free up our rare earth minerals.”

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