Washington: U.S. President Donald Trump's administration will seek "separate" semiconductor tariff agreements for "separate countries," a U.S. official revealed. This announcement came after the United States and Taiwan reached a deal on semiconductor tariffs earlier this week.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the remarks were made by a U.S. official in response to a query about whether the recent agreement with Taiwan would serve as a template for future semiconductor tariff negotiations with other countries. The comment emphasized the administration's intention to conduct separate negotiations for sectoral tariffs with each country individually.

The U.S. Commerce Department had recently released a fact sheet detailing a trade and investment agreement between the United States and Taiwan, which included a bilateral arrangement on semiconductor tariffs. Taiwanese companies establishing new semiconductor production capacity in the U.S. are permitted to import up to 2.5 times their planned capacity without incurring sectoral duties during the approved construction phase. Additionally, those companies that have completed new chip production projects in the U.S. can import 1.5 times their new production capacity without facing sectoral duties.

This agreement has raised questions about whether it will establish a precedent for semiconductor tariff agreements with other countries, particularly South Korea. In related developments, President Trump signed a proclamation on Wednesday to impose a 25 percent tariff on certain semiconductors used in artificial intelligence, which are imported into the U.S. and subsequently reexported.

The White House has indicated that the president may also consider imposing broader tariffs on semiconductor imports and related products. These measures are part of a wider strategy in which the president has implemented various industry-wide tariffs, invoking Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. This law authorizes the president to adjust imports that are deemed to threaten national security.