China tariffs will push up US prices in coming weeks, manufacturers warn
HONG KONG -- With U.S. President Donald Trump's latest China tariffs now set at 30%, more American businesses with manufacturing operations on the mainland are warning they will be forced to raise prices in the coming weeks as inventories dwindle and shipping costs surge.
Michael Wieder, co-founder and president of Lalo, a maker of baby products such as highchairs and play kits for retailers including Target and Amazon.com, said he kept prices steady after Trump kicked off the latest round of trade tensions, but was facing pressure to switch gears.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yomiuri Shimbun
an hour ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Japan's Nikkei Surges as Trade Optimism Lifts Tech; Toyota Industries Plunges
Yomiuri Shimbun file photo The Tokyo Stock Exchange TOKYO, June 4 (Reuters) – Japanese stocks climbed, snapping a three-day skid, after the yen weakened and glimmers of hope emerged for a trade deal that will reopen technology markets with China. Chip sector heavyweights Tokyo Electron Ltd and Advantest Corp rose 1.5% and 1.3%, respectively, following gains in U.S. tech shares overnight. Nintendo jumped as much as 3.6% ahead of the debut of its much-anticipated Switch 2 console on Thursday. Nvidia and other chipmakers drove gains in U.S. stocks ahead of expected talks this week between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to address tariff and trade disputes that have roiled global markets. The benchmark Nikkei 225 climbed 1% as of the morning break while the broader Topix added 0.7%. There were 173 advancers on the Nikkei index against 49 decliners. 'This trend of rising semiconductor stocks is spreading to the Japanese stock market today along with expectations of progress in trade negotiations,' said Wataru Akiyama, a strategist at Nomura Securities. The yen JPY= was little changed at 143.94 per dollar, after a 0.9% slide in the previous session, benefiting exporters. The United States is expecting countries to make their best offers on trade negotiations by Wednesday as sweeping tariffs loom. Even so, Japan has not yet received a letter for its best proposals, the chief government spokesperson said. Toyota Industries sank as much as 13% after automaker Toyota Motor said it will take the forklift-maker private in a $33 billion deal, much lower than an offer indicated in previous media reports. Toyota Motor's shares climbed 2.2%. The largest percentage gainers on the Nikkei were Sumitomo Pharma up 6.2%, followed by Furukawa Electric gaining 4.5%. The biggest losers were BayCurrent down 2.6%, followed by Suzuki Motor which lost 1.7%.
Japan Times
an hour ago
- Japan Times
TSMC flags delays in Japan expansion while U.S. plans advance
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company CEO C. C. Wei blamed worsening traffic snarls for delays in expanding its base in southwest Japan, even while a parallel U.S. effort races ahead. Wei reaffirmed TSMC's commitment to spend another $100 billion to ramp up manufacturing in Arizona over the next half-decade, while saying a plan to build a second plant in Japan was experiencing slight delays. He stressed productive discussions with Donald Trump earlier this year, even after telling the U.S. president it will be "very, very difficult' for TSMC to complete the massive buildout in five years due to a shortage of skilled labor. Trump was "warm' during their exchange, Wei said. The twin projects embody TSMC's impetus to produce abroad as geopolitical tensions rise and demand grows for Nvidia chips essential for developing AI. TSMC has long operated mostly from its home turf of Taiwan but built a plant in Japan after securing a raft of commitments and incentives from Tokyo. It then announced plans to dramatically increase its U.S. investment days after Trump took office. TSMC's first Japan factory, which began operating last year, has been a boon to the local economy. But it's also overwhelming the community's farm-town infrastructure, causing shortages in housing and services and stretching commute times. "We have created too big an impact on the local traffic. I have experienced that in person. For what used to take a 10-15 min drive, it now takes almost an hour,' the CEO told reporters after hosting a shareholders' meeting in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on Tuesday. "We told the Japanese government we'll delay the construction until the traffic improves. They said they'll make improvements as soon as possible.' But Wei did not specify the length of the delay, which he characterized as minor. TSMC said in an emailed statement late Tuesday that it is starting construction of the second plant within this year, reiterating the revised schedule offered by Wei during an earnings conference in April. The world's largest contract chipmaker sits at the heart of that technology supply chain, producing cutting-edge chips for Apple's iPhones and Nvidia's AI servers. Governments from Washington to Brussels have for years courted the company, particularly after shortages of certain types of semiconductors during the pandemic halted production of cars, smartphones, power tools, home appliances and other electronics. TSMC's plan to build a second factory in Kumamoto Prefecture — with construction widely expected to have started in the first quarter of this year — is key to Japan's ambitions to regain leadership in semiconductors and attract engineers to an aging country. The local community has not been able to fully absorb the sudden influx of workers from TSMC's first plant, however, even as the chipmaker's plans in the United States lowers the urgency of production in Japan. "This will become negative for the area, for the local government, but I am most worried it will become negative for local residents,' Wei said. "So we told the Japanese government to improve the traffic first.' In response to Wei's comments, Japan's chief government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said at a regular news conference, "Heightened uncertainty in the global economy, along with challenges including the lack of domestic infrastructure and labor can lead to hesitation among private companies thinking of investing.' Tokyo recognizes the need to create an environment that attracts talent and investment from overseas, he said. The holdup in Japan recalls earlier hitches in getting production up and running at TSMC's newest U.S. facilities in Arizona — though TSMC has made significant headway since. There also remain questions about the longer-term outlook for AI demand. Even before Washington slapped additional tariffs on much of the world — only to roll them back shortly after — investors had questioned whether big tech firms from Microsoft to Meta will continue to buy Nvidia chips and build data centers at the same pace. Executives on Tuesday said demand for AI chips still outstripped supply. Wei reaffirmed the chipmaker was still looking for 2025 revenue growth in the mid-20% range, an outlook it delivered during quarterly earnings calls in April. But the executive also warned that the strengthening Taiwanese dollar was pressuring its margins, even though the company expects record profit this year. TSMC executives have stressed that demand — particularly for high-end chips critical to developing artificial intelligence — has remained resilient. That's helped reassure investors fearful of the Trump administration's escalating campaign to curtail China's tech ambitions and impose sky-high tariffs on goods around the world. For 2025, the market remains nervous about the fallout for the global economy and a sector that supplies critical components to just about every industry on the planet. Taiwan's largest company is also reportedly evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates. The project — discussed with the Trump administration — is said to be a substantial investment in what's called a gigafab, a complex of six factories similar to what TSMC is building in Arizona. On Tuesday, Wei said TSMC didn't harbor plans to build a chip fab in the region due to a lack of customers there.
Asahi Shimbun
2 hours ago
- Asahi Shimbun
Global alarms rise as China's critical mineral export curbs take hold
Alarm over China's stranglehold on critical minerals grew on Tuesday as global automakers joined their U.S. counterparts to complain that restrictions by China on exports of rare earth alloys, mixtures and magnets could cause production delays and outages without a quick solution. German automakers became the latest to warn that China's export restrictions threaten to shut down production and rattle their local economies, following a similar complaint from an Indian EV maker last week. China's decision in April to suspend exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets has upended the supply chains central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world. The move underscores China's dominance of the critical mineral industry and is seen as leverage by China in its ongoing trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump has sought to redefine the trading relationship with the U.S.' top economic rival China by imposing steep tariffs on billions of dollars of imported goods in hopes of narrowing a wide trade deficit and bringing back lost manufacturing. Trump imposed tariffs as high as 145% against China only to scale them back after stock, bond and currency markets revolted over the sweeping nature of the levies. China has responded with its own tariffs and is leveraging its dominance in key supply chains to persuade Trump to back down. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to talk this week, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday, and the export ban is expected to be high on the agenda. 'I can assure you that the administration is actively monitoring China's compliance with the Geneva trade agreement,' she said. 'Our administration officials continue to be engaged in correspondence with their Chinese counterparts.' Trump has previously signaled that China's slow pace of easing the critical mineral export ban represents a violation of the Geneva agreement. Shipments of the magnets, essential for assembling everything from cars and drones to robots and missiles, have been halted at many Chinese ports while license applications make their way through the Chinese regulatory system. The suspension has triggered anxiety in corporate boardrooms and nations' capitals - from Tokyo to Washington - as officials scrambled to identify limited alternative options amid fears that production of new automobiles and other items could grind to a halt by summer's end. 'If the situation is not changed quickly, production delays and even production outages can no longer be ruled out,' Hildegard Mueller, head of Germany's auto lobby, told Reuters on Tuesday. Frank Fannon, a minerals industry consultant and former U.S. assistant secretary of state for energy resources during Trump's first term, said the global disruptions are not shocking to those paying attention. 'I don't think anyone should be surprised how this is playing out. We have a production challenge (in the U.S.) and we need to leverage our whole of government approach to secure resources and ramp up domestic capability as soon as possible. The time horizon to do this was yesterday,' Fannon. Diplomats, automakers and other executives from India, Japan and Europe were urgently seeking meetings with Beijing officials to push for faster approval of rare earth magnet exports, sources told Reuters, as shortages threatened to halt global supply chains. A business delegation from Japan will visit Beijing in early June to meet the Ministry of Commerce over the curbs and European diplomats from countries with big auto industries have also sought 'emergency' meetings with Chinese officials in recent weeks, Reuters reported. India, where Bajaj Auto warned that any further delays in securing the supply of rare earth magnets from China could 'seriously impact' electric vehicle production, is organizing a trip for auto executives in the next two to three weeks. In May, the head of the trade group representing General Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai and other major automakers raised similar concerns in a letter to the Trump administration. 'Without reliable access to these elements and magnets, automotive suppliers will be unable to produce critical automotive components, including automatic transmissions, throttle bodies, alternators, various motors, sensors, seat belts, speakers, lights, motors, power steering, and cameras,' the Alliance for Automotive Innovation wrote in the letter.
