Trump Vows ‘Near Future’ Tariffs, Calls DeepSeek Progress ‘Good’
“… “In the very near future we’re going to be placing tariffs on foreign production of computer chips, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals to return production of these essential goods to the United States of America,” Trump said Monday as he spoke to a gathering of House Republicans at his Doral resort in Miami.
Trump added that he would “also be placing tariffs on steel, aluminum and copper.”
The comments offered one of the most detailed looks at a tariff regime that Trump has been crafting since taking office. The president has previously pledged to impose a flat tariff on Canada, Mexico, and China by the end of the week.
Trump’s threat of semiconductor tariffs also comes hours after investor concern about Chinese artificial-intelligence startup DeepSeek rattled markets and erased billions from Nvidia Corp.’s market capitalization. Trump has argued that tariffs will help keep and build US manufacturing of the advanced chips compared to a subsidy program championed by former President Joe Biden.
… Trump said he had been reading about the company and saw their apparent breakthrough as “good, because you don’t have to spend as much money.”
“I view that as a positive, as an asset,” Trump said.
“The release of DeepSeek AI from a Chinese company should be a wake-up call for our industries that we need to be laser-focused on competing to win,” Trump continued. “Because we have the greatest scientists in the world, even Chinese leadership told me that. They said you have the most brilliant scientists in the world.” …”
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Weird how much his administration is targeting scientists right out of the gate for a guy proud to claim having the best scientists in the world.
Anyway, a very strange time to announce tariffs on microchips given the market reaction to DeepSeek today. Is he trying to drive down tech stocks further? Because his tariffs will drive up the price of pretty much everything with a chip in it.
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