Trump, appearing on the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast, described the deal as “so bad” and claimed Taiwan “stole” semiconductor businesses from the US.
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The CHIPS and Science Act, a bipartisan piece of legislation signed into law by President Biden in 2022, provides federal subsidies to chipmaking firms to expand production in the US.
The law was passed in the wake of the global chip shortage, exacerbated by the pandemic, to try to secure a domestic supply of semiconductors given the market’s dominance in Southeast Asia.
Trump, however, told Rogan the chip deal was bad and claimed that Taiwan was “not going to give us the good companies.”
Intel, Samsung, SK Hynix, and TSMC, one of the largest foundry firms in the world, are among those that have taken advantage of the subsidies offered under the CHIPS Act.
In the past month alone, three US-based companies — HSC, Infinera, and Wolfspeed — secured funding to expand their US production efforts.
Subsidies offered under the CHIPS Act are not exclusive to companies that operate in Taiwan, however, that didn’t stop the former president from attacking the long-time US ally.
He argued that Taiwan “stole” the chip businesses from the US and then asked for protection from China.
“They don't pay us money for the protection you know, the mob makes you pay money,” Trump said.
Trump said he would have opted for tariffs on semiconductor firms, not federal subsidies. He said he would place tariffs on chips similar to how he plans to impose a 100% tariff on every car imported from Mexico if he wins the election, describing the concept as “more sophisticated, but no different.”
During his first term as president, Trump placed a slew of protectionist tariffs on imports of goods from China, ranging from solar panels to steel in what eventually escalated into a trade war.
Notably, the Biden administration largely kept intact much of the Trump team’s tariffs, even extending them to cover electric vehicles.
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