Former President Donald Trump recently announced plans to impose significant tariffs on semiconductor imports during a dinner at the White House with over two dozen prominent tech leaders. The invite-only event featured big-name executives like Apple CEO Tim Cook, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Oracle CEO Safra Catz.
The dinner coincided with the second meeting of the White House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence Education, which featured remarks from First Lady Melania Trump. She underscored the importance of integrating artificial intelligence into education and emphasized the necessity of managing AI’s growth responsibly for the future of American innovation.
Trump’s comments regarding tariffs were particularly striking. In doing so, he signaled that he will slap a 100% tariff on all semiconductor imports. The same should be true for companies that are unable to establish their manufacturing in the United States. “I’ve discussed it with the people here, chips and semiconductors, and we’ll be putting tariffs on companies that aren’t coming in,” he stated.
He made it clear that companies that were prepared to invest in American manufacturing would be exempt from these tariffs. “If they’re coming in, building, planning to come in, there will not be a tariff,” he added. This strategy helps lure tech companies to shift their manufacturing base back to the U.S. It’s a goal the administration has aggressively pushed towards for many years.
Apple has already committed to this vision. The company recently pledged an additional $100 billion to its domestic manufacturing effort. This follows their earlier announcement of a $500 billion investment in February. Curiously, Trump’s statements implied that this investment puts Apple in a good position when it comes to the soon-to-be-imposed tariffs.
Beyond Apple, other big players have pumped their money into U.S. semiconductor manufacturing as well. Over the past few years, starting with 2020, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Samsung Electronics have made multi-hundred billion dollar pledges. They’re developing new operations on our shores. This trend reflects the U.S. government’s desire to onshore its semiconductor supply chain. It tries to make us less reliant on foreign entities.
Many tech leaders, including those at Amazon, Google and Facebook were left scrambling, fearing economic fallout from the move. Simultaneously, it provided a perverse but obvious incentive to firms hungry to expand in any American market. Shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the administration’s focus on domestic manufacturing dovetailed with efforts to secure national security and technological leadership concerns.