100% tariffs on imported chips and semiconductors

US President Donald Trump announced this Thursday that he will impose a 100% tariff on the import of chips and semiconductors, used in electronic devices, automobiles, home appliances and other technological goods.

"We will impose a tariff of approximately 100% on chips and semiconductors," Trump said in the Oval Office of the White House, during a meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook.

"But if [manufacturers] are producing in the United States, there is no charge," said Trump, who presents his tariff policy as a solution for attracting industrial investment to the country.

Trump's tariff threats mark a break with existing plans to revive chip production in the United States, a cutting-edge technology industry in which U.S. companies like Nvidia compete with Taiwan's TSMC and South Korea's Samsung, among others.

Despite the risk that tariffs could squeeze corporate profits and raise the prices of cell phones, televisions, and refrigerators, Trump intends to force most manufacturers to open highly sophisticated production facilities in the United States, which require significant investment.

The approach contrasts with that of former President Joe Biden, who provided more than $50 billion (€43 billion) in incentives to support new chip and semiconductor factories, fund research and train workers for the sector.

The combination of financial support, tax credits, and other financial incentives was intended to attract private investment, a strategy Trump vehemently opposed.

Regarding Apple's investment, Trump said Thursday that it was "one of the most significant commitments in what has become one of the largest investment drives in American history."

In this sense, the President celebrated the fact that companies like Apple are “coming home.”

Alongside Trump at the White House, Apple's chief executive announced Thursday his commitment to invest an additional $100 billion (€85 billion) to expand its production in the United States, bringing its total investment in the country to $600 billion (€514 billion) over the next four years, with the aim of avoiding future tariffs.

"Our products are designed here. We hire and grow here, and we've created 450,000 jobs with thousands of suppliers and partners across all 50 states," Tim Cook emphasized, declaring his commitment to "innovation and manufacturing in the United States."

China has been Apple's main manufacturing and assembly base for the past twenty years, but more recently the company has moved some of its production to Vietnam, Thailand, and India.

Apple announced in February that it planned to invest $500 billion and hire 20,000 people in the United States over the next four years, in addition to opening an artificial intelligence equipment production facility in Texas.

One of Trump's goals is for the Californian company to start manufacturing its popular iPhones in the United States.

This Thursday, Apple announced that it will increase investment in many of its North American suppliers, but some of these companies are based in the United States and manufacture their components for technology products abroad, according to The New York Times.

Cook announced Thursday that “very soon” and for the first time, all new iPhones and Apple Watches sold anywhere in the world will have glass made in Kentucky.