Trump’s 300% chip tariffs would be ‘prohibitive,’ says Balisacan

US PRESIDENT Donald J. Trump's proposal to impose up to 300% tariffs on semiconductor chip imports to the US would kill global trade, according to Philippine Economy Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan.

- By Aubrey Rose A. Inosante and Justine Irish D. Tabile Reporters

“It’s practically saying no trade. It’s prohibitive,” Mr. Balisacan told BusinessWorld on the sidelines of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations hearing late on Monday.

Mr. Trump had earlier floated a 100% tariff on imports of semiconductors, but companies that plan to build manufacturing facilities in the US would be exempted.

However, he has now suggested raising the tariffs on chips to as much as 300%, with the announcement expected to come later this month.

“I’m going to have a rate that is going to be 200%, 300%?” Mr. Trump was quoted as saying in a Bloomberg story last week.

Analysts warned that Mr. Trump’s latest proposal may put the local industry in peril.

“If a 100% tariff is already considered prohibitive — effectively eliminating imports — then any figure beyond that becomes superfluous,” Associate Professor of the University of Asia and the Pacific George N. Manzano said in a Viber message.

“That said, I believe the US still needs to import semiconductors, so this 300% tariff may be more rhetorical than real,” Mr. Manzano added.

Foundation for Economic Freedom President Calixto V. Chikiamco said the possibility of losing the US market would be a “devastating blow” to the industry and the economy.

“A 300% tariff on semiconductors would be devastating to the semiconductor industry and could result in the loss of high-paying jobs,” Mr. Chikiamco said ina Viber message.