Trump goes after Taiwan in a spat over semiconductors.
New Tariffs on Chips
The Washington Post reports New Tariffs on Computer Chips, Semiconductors Are Coming Soon.
“In the very near future we’re going to be placing tariffs on foreign production of computer chips, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals to return production of these essential goods to the United States of America,” Trump said Monday at a retreat of House Republicans at his Doral golf resort in Miami.
Trump said he wanted the manufacturers of semiconductors and chips — which are used in many high-end consumer electronics and sophisticated AI-powered technology and research — to open factories in the United States and would use the threat of high taxes and tariffs to force them to relocate.
“They’re not going to want to pay a 25, 50 or even 100 percent tax,” Trump said. “If you want to stop paying the taxes or the tariffs, you have to build your plant right here in America.”
Trump criticized the Biden administration’s policy of using taxpayer money to subsidize the construction of U.S. semiconductor manufacturing facilities as wasteful and claimed many of the companies that received subsidies didn’t need them and might use the money to expand overseas.
“We don’t have to give them money. They’re going to come in because it’s good for them to come in,” Trump said.
“They left us, and they went to Taiwan,” Trump said Monday. “We want them to come back, and we don’t want to give them billions of dollars.”
Trump Tariff Video
Here’s a Trump Video Clip on X regarding tariffs on semiconductors and Trump’s threats on Taiwan.
Dear Trump Just Do It
The following statement highlights the economic ignorance of Trump: “If you want to stop paying the taxes or the tariffs, you have to build your plant right here in America.”
Taiwan will not pay a dime of tariffs. US consumers will.
And it’s not like we can get advanced chips anywhere else. Thus, US customers will pay more than anyone else in the world for chips, and computers too.
How exactly is that supposed to help the US?
The one and only thing I can come up with that Biden did right is woo Taiwan Semiconductor to the US. They are building in the US.
Readers know I hate subsidies. But I am open to them in cases of a genuine national security threat. Microchips and rare earth minerals qualify. Underwear and toys don’t.
Taiwan Semiconductor should threaten to leave the US. Let Trump deal with Intel.
And Canada should do its part to fix its trade surplus with the US. I suggest Canada should stop sending oil to the US. We would instantly have the trade surplus with Canada that Trump wants.
Happy days would surely be here.
Make Depressions Great Again
I am tired of these perpetual tariff threats with no action. I want to see a global trade war the likes of which we have not seen since Smoot-Hawley and the Great Depression.
It’s time to make depressions great again. So I am openly rooting for Trump to stop talking and start acting.
The best way forward is 100 percent tariffs on everything. And if that does not immediately work, then 500 percent tariffs surely would.
Build Here Irony
The irony in Trump’s build here rant rant is Taiwan Semiconductor is building in the US, and Nippon Steel wants to.
Nippon would even upgrade our steel plants to do so.
Both Biden and Trump said no to Nippon on preposterous grounds of national security. How the hell is a steel plant in the US a security threat?
Everyone with an ounce of common sense who looked at the deal understands it’s union pandering that really puts America last.
For discussion, please see Biden’s Block of Nippon Steel Merger Makes the United States Less Secure
Biden blocked the Nippon purchase of U.S. Steel. Trump would have too. It’s union pandering that makes the US less secure.
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