Trump Escalates Trade War with 100% Tariff on Foreign Semiconductors

Trump declared Wednesday evening that his administration would impose a 100 percent tariff on semiconductors manufactured outside the United States.

Speaking at the Oval Office, Trump stated, “We’ll be putting a tariff on of approximately 100 percent on chips and semiconductors, but if you’re building in the United States of America, there’s no charge, even though you’re building and you’re not producing yet.”

The announcement followed Apple’s declaration of a $600 billion investment in the US and came as no surprise to American analysts.

Trump had earlier hinted at this policy in an interview with CNBC, saying he would introduce a new tariff on semiconductors “within the next week or so,” though he provided no specifics.

Exact timelines and implementation mechanisms remain unclear, but several Asian governments responded swiftly to the news.

Taiwan confirmed that its key chipmaker TSMC would be exempt from the new tariff due to existing US investments.

“Because Taiwan’s main exporter is TSMC, which has factories in the United States, TSMC is exempt,” said Liu Chin-ching, head of the National Development Council, addressing the Taiwanese legislature.

TSMC, which supplies major US firms like Apple and Nvidia, announced in March it would increase its US investment to $165 billion to expand production and research facilities in Arizona.

South Korea also moved to defuse concerns, affirming that top manufacturers Samsung and SK Hynix—both of which operate in Texas and Indiana—would not be affected.

Trade envoy Yeo Han-koo stated that Korean firms are exempt, citing a trade agreement with Washington earlier this year that offered what he described as “favorable” tariffs.

Since 2022, when then-President Joe Biden enacted the CHIPS Act offering subsidies and tax credits to onshore semiconductor production, numerous foreign firms have rushed to invest in the US.

TSMC, Samsung, and SK Hynix are among those benefiting from the act, which incentivized shifting strategic tech infrastructure away from Asia.

But not all nations have been spared. Dan Lachica, president of the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation, warned that the tariffs would be “devastating” for his country.

He noted that semiconductors account for 70 percent of the Philippines' exports, underscoring its economic vulnerability to Washington’s trade maneuvers.

The new tariffs are set to take effect Thursday. The White House has already imposed similar penalties targeting other key sectors, including steel, aluminum, automobiles, and pharmaceuticals—measures critics say reflect Washington’s broader effort to stifle technological progress in non-Western economies.