The American president plans to announce “next week or that according to” the customs duties that will be imposed on semiconductors, he said Friday before his departure for Alaska, where he must meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
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“I will announce new customs duties next week or that after, on steel and, I think, on semiconductors,” said Donald Trump before embarking on Air Force One.
“It will be at a lower rate at first for their (manufacturers, editor’s note) allow time to come and settle here and then it will be very high. And if they do not make them here they will have to pay a very high surcharge, “he added.
Trump presents in particular his customs duties as a means of encouraging the relocation of factories, in particular in the sectors he judges strategic such as semiconductors, steel and aluminum, automobile or pharmaceutical industry.
“They will all come because they want to avoid customs duties. If they do not settle here, they will have to pay, in some cases, 200%, 300%, I have not yet checked the rates, “said Trump, without specifying in which sectors he was referring.
The American president had announced on August 6 his desire to impose 100% customs duties on semiconductors, without nevertheless specifying the date of entry into force of this new surcharge.
In parallel, he also wishes to impose a surcharge also on pharmaceutical products, which will first be “a low customs right”. But “in a year, a year and a half maximum, it will be 150% and then 250%,” Trump said on August 5.
He added that the rates applied, both for pharmaceutical products and semiconductors, should be known “in the course of next week”.
This announcement therefore seems to be postponed for several days.
The possible establishment of customs duties on semiconductors, however, worries the markets. The titles of Nvidia and AMD, two of the main manufacturers, lost 1.37% and 1.60% in the morning at Wall Street respectively.
Regarding steel, 50% customs duties have already been applied since March to imports to the United States.
The White House has so far suggested that a new increase should take place.
