The U.S. Donald Trump administration reaffirmed that the previously released partial semiconductor tariff is a "Phase 1 measure," indicating that announcements of additional, broader tariffs could follow.
On the 15th (local time), Reuters, citing an anonymous White House official, reported that the 25% semiconductor tariff that the U.S. Department of Commerce decided to impose under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act is Phase 1 and that there could be other releases depending on the progress of talks now underway with various countries and corporations.
According to the official, President Trump, expressing a determination last year to rebuild U.S. semiconductor production infrastructure, said the administration "could impose a 100% tariff on imported semiconductors not produced in the United States."
The previous day, President Trump signed a proclamation imposing a 25% tariff on semiconductors imported into the United States and then re-exported to other countries. This effectively levied an "export tax" on Nvidia's artificial intelligence (AI) chip "H200," which is produced by Taiwan's TSMC, brought into the United States, and then re-exported to China.
At the same time, the White House noted in a fact sheet that "President Trump may impose broader tariffs on imports of semiconductors and their derivative products in the near future to induce domestic manufacturing, and may introduce a corresponding tariff offset program."
The tariff offset program would exempt corporations investing in U.S. semiconductor production and specific areas of the semiconductor supply chain from tariffs or apply preferential tariffs.
That day, the Trump administration also concluded negotiations under which a Taiwanese corporation establishing semiconductor production capacity in the United States would be exempt from tariffs up to 2.5 times its production capacity during the plant construction period, receive a preferential rate on imports exceeding 2.5 times, and, once production facilities are completed in the United States, be able to import up to 1.5 times the new production capacity without paying tariffs.
Attention is on whether Korea can receive tariff exemptions on terms no less favorable than those for Taiwan, a rival in semiconductors, as agreed at the summit in Nov.