Trump teases ‘approximately’ 100 percent tariff for imported semiconductors
- Reference: 1754540833
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/08/07/us_semiconductor_tariffs_100_percent/
- Source link:
In January Trump [1]said he planned “25, 50, or even a 100 percent tax” on imported chips. In February he [2]foreshadowed semiconductor tariffs would be “25 percent and higher, and it will go very substantially higher over the course of a year.”
Speaking at the Wednesday [3]announcement of Apple’s expanded investment in US manufacturing, Trump [4]said “We'll be putting a tariff on of approximately 100 percent on chips and semiconductors.”
[5]
Exemptions to the tariffs will be available to chipmakers that even explore stateside manufacturing.
[6]
[7]
“But if you're building in the United States of America, there's no charge,” Trump said.
“Even though you're building and you're not producing yet in terms of the big numbers of jobs and all of the things that you're building. If you're building, there will be no charge.”
[8]
He later said those who have “made a commitment to build” won’t face tariffs.
But if those commitments aren’t met, chipmakers will face retrospective tariffs.
“If for some reason you say you're building and you don't build, then we go back and we add it up,” he said. “It accumulates and we charge you at a later date. You have to pay and that's a guarantee.”
[9]India gets its turn on the Trump tariff train: 25% levy to start Friday
[10]US lowers tariffs on major tech exporting nations - but buyers will still pay more
[11]Trump surprises with TSMC $300B investment claim
[12]ASML shares tumble as US tariff turmoil rattles investors
US chipmakers Intel and Micron have already announced new plants in the USA, as have Taiwan’s TSMC and South Korea’s Samsung. Big Japanese players like Kioxia and Renesas have not.
The president didn’t say when he will announce his final policy, and his mention of “approximately100 percent” tariffs leaves room for change. But his remarks didn’t include an explanation of what happens if a chipmaker invests in US manufacturing capacity but still imports other products from overseas. Another omission in the president’s remarks was treatment for products that incorporate semiconductors from multiple sources, an important consideration as modern CPUs and GPUs often employ multiple dies sourced from different nations.
[13]
Wednesday’s remarks therefore again leave the semiconductor industry waiting to learn its fate. ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/28/trump_tariffs_semiconductors/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/19/trump_semiconductor_tariff_plan/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/06/apple_pledges_another_100b_us_manufacturing/
[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91ThwUABVMs
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aJR5O9JAbqbT_UXxyh7LLwAAAII&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aJR5O9JAbqbT_UXxyh7LLwAAAII&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aJR5O9JAbqbT_UXxyh7LLwAAAII&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aJR5O9JAbqbT_UXxyh7LLwAAAII&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/30/trump_tariffs_india/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/01/recipricoal_tariff_changes/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/06/trump_tsmc_300b/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/16/asml_forecast/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aJR5O9JAbqbT_UXxyh7LLwAAAII&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
I disagree - I'm pretty sure they will not fulfil any of the pledges :p
I agree, because I really can't see how that threat would work. Tariffs are levied on importers, not on manufacturers.
You can't "get back" money from someone who never owed it in the first place, unless you're willing to go full banana republic.
Which might be the case for Trump, but is, I have to hope, unlikely to be for any of his successors who will inherit this "strategy".
Re: successors
"unlikely to be for any of his successors who will inherit this "strategy""
Which successors? He will be president for Life!
Oh yes, that might not be for long.
Oh really ?
Still waiting for him to make good on his promise to cut pharmaceuticals by 1200%, 1300%, 1400%, up to 1600%.
He's not really good with numbers. That might explain [1]this .
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2020/nov/09/the-donald-trump-presidency-in-numbers
If you're a big company like Apple or Nvidia
He'll carve out a deal for you where you can dodge the tariffs by kissing up to him in the White House and making promises to him you don't intend on keeping to distract him. If you're company measures revenue in the millions rather than billions - i.e. the kind of medium sized business most people work for - it is just too bad. You aren't important enough for him to hold a presser with, so you will get no relief.
TSMC in the US is already booked up, Intel is in disarray and can't even make chips for themselves, so you'll have to pay double for your chips from overseas and kill your profit margin. But don't worry, CEOs of those midsize companies will address that issue of tariff cost through a combination of layoffs and price increases - the Trump economy in a nutshell!
You?
> “If for some reason you say you're building and you don't build, then we go back and we add it up,” he said. “It accumulates and we charge you at a later date. You have to pay and that's a guarantee.”
Who's "you" here? Tariffs are not levied on manufacturers; they are levied on importers.
Either he doesn't understand what tariffs are and is therefore threatening to kill the importer, who was never required to build anything , and couldn't build anything except warehouses anyway, even if they wanted to.
Or he's threatening to ignore every national and international law, as well as common sense, and, out of the blue, at some point in the future, demand money from a manufacturer for not paying a tax that they never owed in the first place .
Sadly, both are plausible.
Re: You?
Also, it gets better. Since his threatened tariff is 100%, he wants to be able to present a bill to the manufacturer for the total value of all imports into the US, which would be insanely high. There would be zero reason to ever pay it, since it would instantly bankrupt a company.
Say yep and take your time.
How long does it take to build a fab? I'm sure you can spend a good couple of years just looking for the right site if you try hard enough. By then he'll be too busy trying to get around the constitution to be president for life. And if he fails him and his tariffs are gone or else there's a bigger problem with a little civil war to contend with.
Rest of the world
Perhaps the rest of the world should insist that the US should open manufacturing sites in the places they want to sell their products?
He doesn't seem to understand what "trade" is*.
* or anything else, for that matter.
What About Mouser and Digikey ?
I use Mouser and Digikey despite being in the UK as they are generally cheaper than the UK equivalent (RS and Farnell), since shipping costs from the US are free for orders above a certain value.
So, are the tariffs only for semiconductor manufacturers, or for any semiconductor imported ?
If it is for any imported semiconductor, then this policy will really mess up the US supply chain as a minimum.
Hi, I'm Donald Trump
Welcome to Jackass.
*guitar strums*
To the US aerospace, defence & auto industries ...
Good luck, it was nice knowing you!
TSMC, Apple will years of R&D first. Co-incidentally they'll decide what to build 0.3 seconds after Trump is out of office and the tarifs are removed.....
I expect token pledges to get out of the tariffs that are then fulfilled to the absolute minimum level required to escape Trump's notice (and then slightly below that).