Markets yesterday welcomed a US tariffs reprieve for electronics, but US President Donald Trump warned no country would get “off the hook” in his trade war — especially China, while pledging to impose tariffs on semiconductors in the “not distant future.”
While the US on Friday listed tariff exemptions for smartphones, laptops, semiconductors and other electronic products for which China is a major source, Trump and some of his top aides said on Sunday that the exemptions had been misconstrued and would only be temporary as his team pursued fresh tariffs against many items on the list.
“NOBODY is getting ‘off the hook’ ... especially not China which, by far, treats us the worst,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
Photo: Reuters
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that protectionism “will lead nowhere” and a trade war would “produce no winner.”
Shares in Taiwan yesterday closed slightly lower, with initial gains eroded as lingering concerns over the Trump administration’s tariffs on semiconductors continued to hurt market sentiment.
The TAIEX closed down 15.68 points, or 0.08 percent, at 19,513.09, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the most heavily weighted stock on the local market, lost 2.7 percent.
“Investors simply took the money and ran after trimming their holdings in TSMC as the TAIEX rebounded today,” Cathay Futures Consultant Co (國泰證期) analyst Tsai Ming-han (蔡明翰) said. “They fear Trump’s tariffs on semiconductors will bomb the market.”
Other Asian and European stock markets yesterday rallied over the news of Washington’s new exemptions. The Paris, Frankfurt and London stock exchanges were up about 2 percent in morning deals, while Tokyo finished 1.2 percent higher, Seoul gained 1 percent and Hong Kong jumped 2.3 percent.
Shanghai picked up 0.8 percent after the latest data showed that China’s exports last month surged 12.4 percent from a year earlier.
However, the relief could be short-lived, with some of the exempted consumer electronics targeted for upcoming sector-specific tariffs on goods deemed key to US national defense networks.
On Air Force One on Sunday, Trump told reporters that tariffs on semiconductors “will be in place in the not distant future.”
“Like we did with steel, like we did with automobiles, like we did with aluminum ... we’ll be doing that with semiconductors, with chips and numerous other things,” he said.
“We want to make our chips and semiconductors and other things in our country,” Trump reiterated, adding that he would do the same with “drugs and pharmaceuticals.”
The US president said he would announce tariffs rates for semiconductors “over the next week,” while US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said they would likely be in place “in a month or two.”
The White House insists the aggressive policy is bearing fruit, saying dozens of countries have already opened trade negotiations to secure deals before the 90-day pause ends.
“We’re working around the clock, day and night, sharing paper, receiving offers and giving feedback to these countries,” US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday.
Additional reporting by CNA with staff writer
Netherlands-based semiconductor equipment supplier ASML Holding NV yesterday said that it is planning to hire an additional 1,000 people in Taiwan this year in response to growing demand from clients. ASML had previously planned to recruit 600 people this year, but that the plan has been adjusted upward, ASML vice president and ASML Taiwan general manager Grace Wang (汪佳慧) told reporters. ASML has a workforce of more than 4,500 in Taiwan, accounting for about 10 percent of its global total, Wang said. This year’s recruitment campaign would focus on adding people in the customer support, manufacturing and supply chain domains to assist ASML
UNDER MICROSCOPE: Taiwan detained three people who allegedly conspired to buy servers in Taiwan and export them using fraudulent documentation, prosecutors said Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday urged Super Micro Computer Inc to tighten up on compliance after Taiwan detained three people this week for allegedly making fraudulent declarations about artificial intelligence (AI) servers made by its US partner. The development marked the nation’s first crackdown on semiconductor smuggling, which grew after the US slapped restrictions on exports of high-end chips such as Nvidia AI accelerators to China. Nvidia is “rigorous” in explaining regulations to all of its partners, Huang told reporters after arriving in Taipei. “Ultimately Super Micro has to run their own company,” he said in response to
Nvidia Corp yesterday announced that CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) would attend an employee meeting in Taipei tomorrow to celebrate the launch of the company’s Taiwan headquarters project. Huang would attend a gathering at the site of Nvidia’s planned headquarters in Beitou Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區), the company said in a statement. After arriving in Taiwan on Saturday last week, Huang told reporters that he plans to meet with Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), and would attend the groundbreaking ceremony for Nvidia’s Taiwan headquarters tomorrow. Nvidia has not yet applied
Huawei Technologies Co (華為) said it has come up with a new pathway to shorten its gap with industry leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), potentially achieving a breakthrough in making advanced semiconductors without cutting-edge equipment. Right now there is about a five-year gap between what TSMC is capable of and what Huawei, together with its manufacturing partner Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (中芯), can produce. Huawei is to start making 1.4-nanometer chips by 2031 with its own “LogicFolding” technology, Huawei semiconductor chief He Tingbo (何庭波) said in a rare public appearance during a chip conference yesterday, while TSMC has
RSS