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
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