Trump's Threat to Hit Chips With 100% Tariffs Raises Big Questions
The tariffs would not apply to companies that are building factories in the United States, or have promised to do so, he said on Wednesday.
Three of the world's leading chip manufacturers are each making significant investments in U.S. operations: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, which makes most of the world's advanced computer chips, and the South Korean memory chip giants Samsung and SK Hynix.
But aside from that, Mr. Trump's statement raises many more questions than it answers.
Semiconductors are a complicated target for tariffs, involving a supply chain that is both global and specialized. Many chips are manufactured in Taiwan and South Korea, and then sent to another country, like Malaysia, for testing and processing. Next, the chips are put into consumer electronics — including iPhones, electric cars and smart home appliances — before they are sold all over the world. Most chips come into the United States embedded in electronics or components.
'No detailed provisions have been released,' said Joanne Chiao, an analyst at TrendForce, a market research firm in Taipei. 'The scope and mechanism of the tariffs remain unclear.'
The United States imported about 13 percent of the world's chips last year, mainly to drive the booming artificial intelligence and electric vehicle industries, said Jimmy Goodrich, a senior adviser for technology analysis at the RAND Corporation.
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28 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
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New York Post
28 minutes ago
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The Hill
28 minutes ago
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'We have to remind you that not only [Ukrainian] soldiers are in captivity. There are a lot of civilians [in captivity]. They [Russians] are kidnapping kids and civilians. They are in the same conditions [as POWs],' said Dmytro Morozov, also an ambassador for Heart of Azovstal. Morozov said he lost close to 90 pounds in Russian captivity, a shocking amount for his 6-foot frame. Morozov was in the infantry for the National Guard, wounded during the Russian siege on Mariupol. Morozov said he was determined not to surrender to the Russians, who pressured him to turn on his country. He drew strength from knowing his wife and child had escaped Mariupol for Kyiv. 'Russia killed my wife's parents, my brother, and a lot of people in my family. My mom is alive. And I didn't care what they would do to me, I mean, to pressure me to flip sides. I told myself no matter what my family is safe and whatever happens, happens. So that kept me going,' he said. Morozov was released in one of the first prisoner exchanges between Ukraine and Russia, which prioritized the severely wounded, sick and women. Over three years of war, the Ukrainian government has succeeded in carrying out some 60 prisoner swaps — the largest in mid-May, with 1,000 Ukrainians brought back from Russia, including civilians. That exchange was made possible through direct negotiations that were instigated by the Trump administration in May, in its push to end the war. The physical state of the returning Ukrainian soldiers — heads shaved, emaciated bodies, signs of torture and abuse — only added to the urgency for more swaps. Horoshanska said she almost lost her will to live during her months in Russian prison, 'because I lost everything that was important to me.' Horoshanska was injured in a Russian airstrike and was receiving medical treatment in Azovstal when it came under Russian occupation. 'The day I was injured, my whole platoon was killed. … Often I was thinking it was a mistake I stayed alive, but I was thinking about my daughter and understood she needs me.' Mariupol is in the southeastern Donetsk region of Ukraine, which remains largely under Russian control, making it likely part of the 'land swap' Trump is pushing. Russia controls about 20 percent of Ukrainian territory, including a large portion of the country's east, the Crimean Peninsula in the south, and pockets in the northeast, the areas of Sumy and Kharkiv. In a video address on Saturday, Zelensky said Ukraine's Constitution bars him from relinquishing territory. But just more than half of Ukrainians agreed that Kyiv should be open to making some territorial concessions as part of a peace deal to end the war, according to a recent Gallup poll. Putin has proposed ending the fighting in exchange for Ukraine handing over roughly one-third of the eastern Donetsk region that Kyiv still controls, The Wall Street Journal reported. The front line would be frozen elsewhere, including in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions that Russia also claims as its own. A counterproposal from Europe, according to the Journal, would have Ukraine hand over the entire Donetsk region in exchange for Russia withdrawing from occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in the south. The European plan also calls for ironclad security guarantees for Ukraine, including potential NATO membership. Horoshanska reflected on the tough choices for Ukraine and all that has been lost. 'I want to go back home, this is true that the building, as my home, does not exist. But I want to go back to the region where I was born and raised and visit the graves where my relatives are,' she said.
