Trump: "Semiconductor Tariffs Should Be Imposed to Make Companies Build Factories in the US"

Criticism of the Semiconductor Support Act
"They could have refused to give even 10 cents in subsidies"

With the U.S. presidential election just 9 days away, former President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, criticized the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act (CSA) and argued that tariffs should be imposed to force global companies to build factories in the United States.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to major foreign media including The New York Times (NYT) on the 27th (local time), former President Trump appeared on a podcast on the 25th and said about the semiconductor law, "That semiconductor deal is really bad."

Earlier, the U.S. Congress passed the CSA with bipartisan support in 2022, providing a total of $52.7 billion in subsidies and research and development (R&D) funding to semiconductor companies over five years. Not only U.S. companies like Intel but also foreign companies such as Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Taiwan's TSMC receive subsidies.

Former President Trump said, "We are giving billions of dollars to rich companies to come and borrow money to establish semiconductor companies here, but they are not going to give us good companies anyway," adding, "We could have done that with tariffs without giving a single cent. We should impose very high tariffs so that they come and build semiconductor companies for free."

He explained that imposing tariffs on semiconductors exported to the U.S. would lead global semiconductor companies to build factories within the United States. Former President Trump also claimed that TSMC stole 95% of the U.S. semiconductor business.

He said, "Taiwan is doing tremendously well, but that's solely because of our stupid politicians," repeating his previous claim that Taiwan stole the U.S. semiconductor business and that Taiwan should pay defense costs to the U.S. He further criticized, "They want our protection but do not pay the price for it."