Washington: U.S. President Donald Trump's administration will pursue "separate" semiconductor tariff agreements for different countries, according to a U.S. official. This announcement follows the recent deal between the United States and Taiwan concerning semiconductor tariffs.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the U.S. official made these comments in response to inquiries about whether the Taiwan deal would serve as a benchmark for semiconductor tariffs or if the U.S. would engage in distinct negotiations with other nations. The remarks came shortly after the U.S. Commerce Department released a fact sheet detailing a trade and investment agreement with Taiwan, which includes a bilateral pact on semiconductor tariffs.
The fact sheet highlights that Taiwanese companies, when building new semiconductor facilities in the U.S., may import up to 2.5 times the planned capacity without incurring sectoral duties during the construction phase. Once Taiwanese firms complete new chip production projects, they can import 1.5 times their new U.S. production capacity without facing sectoral duties.
This agreement has sparked discussions about its implications for semiconductor manufacturers from other countries, such as South Korea. On Wednesday, President Trump signed a proclamation imposing a 25 percent tariff on certain AI-related semiconductors imported into the U.S. and reexported elsewhere. The White House indicated that broader tariffs might also be applied to semiconductor imports and their derivatives.
President Trump has implemented various industrywide tariffs, invoking Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which allows the president to adjust imports deemed to threaten national security.
South Korea's leading trade envoy assessed that the impact of the Trump administration's semiconductor tariffs on local chipmakers would be "limited." Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo made this assessment upon returning from a six-day trip to the U.S., in light of Washington's concerns over recent amendments to a South Korean law addressing false online information.
Minister Yeo noted that the first-stage tariff measures focus on advanced chips from NVIDIA and AMD, excluding memory chips, which are significant export products for South Korean companies. Despite this, Yeo acknowledged persisting uncertainties, as the U.S. might announce a second-stage tariff measure for semiconductors. He pledged to collaborate closely with local companies to achieve the "best outcome."