Trump Warns Chipmakers to Build in the US, or Face Tariffs

US President Donald Trump reiterated a threat to impose significant import tariffs on chipmakers not moving manufacturing to the country. His statement added more uncertainty to companies’ long-term supply chain plans.

Trump bluntly stated, “If they are coming in, building, planning to come in, there will not be a tariff. If they are not coming in, there is a tariff,” the news agency wrote. In early August, Trump warned companies that the US would put 100 percent tariffs on chip imports, but noted chipmakers with facilities in the country or plans to build would be exempt from the proposed duty.

The largest semiconductor companies, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Samsung, and SK Hynix, all have factories in the US and have committed to expanding their operations, following pressure from the administration. The president now awaits a Supreme Court decision on a lower court’s ruling that declared most of his wide-ranging trade tariffs were illegal.