[Young journalist Choi Jion] As U.S. President Donald Trump said that he would “impose a 100% tariff on semiconductors,” critics are raising major questions about the criteria and the method for imposing the tariffs. 

The U.S. daily The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 7th (local time), saying Trump’s statement that tariffs would not be imposed if a factory is built in the United States, and said the world’s major semiconductor manufacturers are likely to be exempt. 

The three major companies, Taiwan TSMC, Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, are already making large scale investments in the United States. 

According to the NYT, today's semiconductor supply chain is globalized and complex. 

Many chips are manufactured in Taiwan and Korea, then sent to other countries such as Malaysia for testing and processing, after which they are built into consumer electronics–such as iPhones, electric cars, and home appliances–and sold worldwide. 

Therefore, it is uncertain how the U.S. government would determine the rules for imposing and enforcing the tariffs. 

Among the approaches floated by semiconductor analysts is levying tariffs based on whether companies that make finished products such as Apple iPhone or NVidia have production facilities in the United States. 

Inspecting components to verify whether the company that manufactured the chips used produces any products in the United States is another possibility. 

Nevertheless, what kind of investment will qualify a company’s products for a tariff exemption remains as a point of contention. 

In the case of SK Hynix, it has promised to build a facility in the state of Indiana, and plans to package various chips produced in other regions at that site.

The NYT also pointed out that while the U.S. Department of Commerce is expected to release the results of its research about whether semiconductor imports threaten national security this month, it is unclear how those findings  would be related to a 100% tariffs on semiconductors.

▶원문 기사: "트럼프, 반도체에 100% 관세? 대부분이 면제될 것" NYT (이코노미스트, 2025. 8. 8)

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