U.S. President Donald Trump has floated the idea of 25% tariffs on foreign automobiles, as well as similar or higher rates on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors. Trump has been pursuing tariffs as a way to bolster the local economy and encourage foreign firms to invest in the U.S., a strategy that's been widely criticized for its potential to spark a multi-front trade war.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00U.S. President Donald Trump is getting ready to slap more tariffs on goods entering the
00:04U.S.
00:05And this time, chips are on the list, along with automobiles and pharmaceuticals.
00:10Joyce Deng has been following Trump's announcements and joins us from our newsroom in Taipei.
00:14Joyce, what do we know?
00:17Hey, Sandy, we're hearing more about these tariffs that Trump has pledged to impose since
00:24taking office.
00:25Specifically, he's looking to slap on 25 percent tariffs on cars, which could come
00:31as soon as April.
00:32He's also waging a similar 25 percent or higher rate on pharmaceuticals and chips.
00:39Now, here in Taiwan, a lot of attention has been on his plans for chips.
00:44Taiwan's most valuable company, TSMC, is the unmatched leader in making this critical technology,
00:50which is also seen as a crucial part of Taiwan's defense.
00:55Speaking to economists in Taiwan and in the U.S., they tell me that these tariff threats
01:00put Taiwan in a dangerous position.
01:03Its largest industry is under threat.
01:06Trump has repeatedly accused Taiwan of stealing the U.S.'s chips business.
01:10Taipei has responded by even sending officials to Washington to clarify with the Trump team
01:16that this is not true.
01:18Trump has said that because of his tariffs, he's already getting major industry players,
01:23including in chips, to move to the U.S.
01:26I've been contacted by some of the biggest companies in the world.
01:31And because of what we're doing economically and through tariffs and taxes and incentives,
01:36they want to come back into the United States.
01:40And we'll be announcing various very large companies, the biggest, actually.
01:44And they'll be coming back, having to do with chips and having to do also with cars and
01:50lots of other things.
01:53Taiwan Plus reached out to TSMC to confirm whether they've talked to Trump's team, and
01:57they say they have no comment.
02:00But look, the idea of bringing chips manufacturing to the U.S. is not new.
02:04We saw this with Joe Biden and the Chips Act subsidies, which helped with TSMC's multibillion
02:10dollar investment in Arizona to build three factories there.
02:15For Trump, the logic can be seen as the same.
02:18But instead of, say, using carrots as incentives, he's using sticks.
02:22Sandy?
02:23So Joyce, we've just heard Trump there talking about companies coming back to the U.S.
02:30Do we know what exactly that could look like for chips?
02:33Well, there's been speculation that TSMC and Broadcom, a U.S. chip firm, are each considering
02:41acquiring a stake in Intel.
02:44The iconic American chipmaker has been struggling for years now to keep up with competition.
02:50But amid these rumors of a potential takeover, Intel's shares were up 16 percent for its
02:57best day in the stock market since early 2020.
03:00Again, this is all based still on speculation.
03:04But there are fears in Taiwan about whether TSMC's involvement would include a technology
03:10transfer.
03:11The worry, of course, is that the firm would have to share its trade secrets and potentially
03:16lose its leadership in these most critical advanced chips.