Trump administration hits Taiwan with a 32% tariff

[CTaitung]

From a historical perspective by JPM:

[amitkattal]

Soon Trump will end all tarrifs and announce how everyone is rich now and the tarrifs served their purpose and his followers will worship him

[Brianjones]

Don’t give him ideas.
Nobody has the foggiest what the situation will be a month from now let alone 3 months. Chaos machine.

[afterspivak]

@Brianjones

Chaos machine.

Just the way that DJT likes it. It makes him the center of attention and gives him ample opportunities to play the Big Boss.

Guy

[Brianjones]

The $#&# hijacked the world’s financial system.

[qwert_zuiop]

@Brianjones

The $#&# hijacked the world’s financial system.

And people keep cheering for him because he’s shaking up the “establishment”.

[afterspivak]

@Brianjones

The $#&# hijacked the world’s financial system

So a question is: where is Congress which has the formal right to handle finance and tarrifs and the like? The Senate voted; the House of Representatives has meanwhile shown itself to be completely missing in action. Members of the latter are all up for election again in 2026. Will they survive? Who knows, maybe Americans really do like this.

Guy

[comfy123]

@afterspivak

So a question is: where is Congress which has the formal right to handle finance and tarrifs and the like? The Senate voted; the House of Representatives has meanwhile shown itself to be completely missing in action. Members of the latter are all up for election again in 2026. Will they survive? Who knows, maybe Americans really do like this.

Maybe they secretly know this is a good thing for the long run?

[qwert_zuiop]

@comfy123

Maybe they secretly know this is a good thing for the long run?

Or maybe they are just worried of openly opposing Trump…

[amitkattal]

When a scheme involves rich people getting more richer, apparently many people keep their mouth shut.

[afterspivak]

@comfy123

they secretly know

Yes no doubt I am sure “they” “secretly” “know” things.

For example: if you don’t test for COVID, you don’t have any new cases! Problem solved!

If you don’t allow any mention of climate change in offical documents, there is no climate change! Problem solved!

If you restrict the entry of goods and raw materials from other countries, the US economy will be great again! Problem solved!

Guy

[MacArthur]

Are you being sarcastic?

[MacArthur]

My own US$ cash “reserves” are losing value by the day.

[MacArthur]

Urmpf, if that article is correct then the Taiwanese economy is going to be in deep trouble as soon as the interest rate on US treasury bonds rises significantly. Then their old papers could depreciate in value by double digit numbers.

How could they allow for things to get that much out fo hand?

That the CCP fell into that trap, OK, they’re government bureaucrats who have an allergy to independent thought. But were the “democratic edge” of Taiwan in this?

[kh_gc]

According to the article, Taiwan just needed a solution to offload the amount of USD coming in during QE, so in blunt terms, it was a workaround. (Taiwan isn’t the only one who did this: https://ticdata.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/tic/Documents/slt_table5.html)

That being said, the article only brings up the potential risk, it’s still far from a guarantee. No matter where the tariff policies land, import and export countries are ultimately going to need to find a way to work it out because globalization and comparative advantage is out of the bag and it isn’t going back in. The best we can do is shift some pieces around. All the powers to be are pretty aware of the risks of being vertically aligned with the US, but the reality is that that was the best move forward at the time.

The de-risking phase is definitely taking place now, if it hasn’t already started for a while now. For example, if you choose to see it this way, Taiwan’s investments in US fabs is less of a kow-tow to Trump, but could be seen as a move to better secure their hold-to-maturity investments.

The US also got a healthy reminder with the bond market scare last week, so I think everyone’s a little more cognizant of the pieces in play now.

As for us personally, you’ll experience some depreciation short-term, but as long as you’re not in substantial local investments, just hold out for some stabilization and definitely keep an eye out for news that may exacerbate the situation.

[Explant]

@MacArthur

If possible I’d like to direct this question to people who no longer have ties to the USA. Because I find it increasingly difficult to have a level headed conversation about this topic with people heavily invested in the American homeland.

Given the very strong ties of the Taiwanese manufacturing industry to the mainland, how is the inevitably prolonged trade war expected to affect the island’s economy?

Can they compensate these blows in any meaningful way? Does Taiwan even have the financial cushion required to weather a major recession?

Does the political climate allow for a rapprochement with mainland China, or is Taiwan bound in lockstep to every mood swing of the Trump administration?

What do local business leaders on the island say to all of this?

Our manufacturing and processing facilities are all on the taiwnaese mainland, I don’t think the islands will be affected much as they don’t produce much.

However, we saw roughly a 10% cancelation/pause on orders once trump started running his mouth (this time). Most have come back now and want expedited shipments mostly because they fear his unstable mental health and want to get shit in before he wakes up on the wrong side of the bed (again).

I think it’s obviously smart to diversify. Much like Ex President Ma’s example of him selling out our country and making us heavily reliant on China, so should individual companies be smart enough to try and expand to markets outside both china and the USA. Being relaint on either is a bad move. Easier said than done, but it’s as obvious as gravity.

[Poundsand]

@afterspivak

@Brianjones

The $#&# hijacked the world’s financial system

So a question is: where is Congress which has the formal right to handle finance and tarrifs and the like? The Senate voted; the House of Representatives has meanwhile shown itself to be completely missing in action. Members of the latter are all up for election again in 2026. Will they survive? Who knows, maybe Americans really do like this.

Guy

Congressional Republicans have been in the ends justifies the means mode for a long time, and the ends they’ve been aiming at for decades is a right-friendly federal judiciary, lower taxes for the rich and corporate interests, and dismantling gov’t agencies to move functions into private interests. So they good with this as long as they get what they want (see that the little bit of pushback we’re getting is on the tariffs after it rattled the market).

[Celeborn]

Trump And Taiwan: A Big, Beautiful Relationship Or The Deal Maker’s Ultimate Bargaining Chip?

[!quote] Randy Shriver, Chair, Intercollegiate American Studies Program, Scripps College

It was always understood that the crown jewels, the highest capabilities to produce the highest end exquisite chips would remain in Taiwan.

But that this diversification would be helpful to the US the biggest market for Taiwan and would ultimately also contribute to the US goals of regaining a manufacturing capability and an ecosystem that itself might spin into higher levels of production of advanced chips.

But the deal was very much informed by wanting to strengthen US-Taiwan relations, not alter them in a way that would be disadvantageous to Taiwan. And again, the crown jewels remaining in Taipei.

So I think further investment is probably along those same lines. I think the scale of it is quite impressive, and it all comes to fruition, at’s very meaningful. And the US should be appreciative of Taiwan’s investment at that level and that magnitude.

Your first question about we do not support it. So the comment I made is we actually took that off the State Department website. So we no longer say we do not support Taiwan independence, but presumably that’s still policy.

And out of the things I spend time on when I was at the State Department, I feel like I spent like an inordinate amount of time on this, like, explaining. Because to normal, like air breathers, (Kharis Templeman: [LAUGHS]) Like to say, we oppose independence, we do not support independence, we don’t care about, it doesn’t make a difference, it sounds the same. And I had a lot of instances where I’d get called by the media, like did your policy, Colin Powell just said we oppose Taiwanese independence. Is this a change in US policy? No.

So you really have to be steeped in the nomenclature and the history and everything. And if you are, then what it means is it’s we take a passive position on it and don’t actively oppose it, but nor do we support it.

So to say we oppose Taiwanese independence means we’re going to proactively do things to prevent it. We would speak out against it. We would say we oppose it. If Taiwan were to take those steps, presumably that could have some consequences. You know, we might be less inclined to support Taiwan in the event of military action by the PLA if it’s in reaction to a declaration of independence. So to say you oppose independence has all kinds of implications.

[MacArthur]

I have to differ there. I take the announcements of both the Trumpists and leading EU economic figures serious that “the age of globalism has ended”. At least far as the US is concerned.

You can’t squeeze that genie back in the bottle again. Heck, I’m withdrawing all my US$ savings as we speak, transferring them so Swiss Francs and other stable currencies. Outside the US.

[Mr_PBH]

OK, well, that’s good news.

Nvidia to mass produce AI supercomputers in Texas

Key Points

• Nvidia announced a push to produce NVIDIA AI supercomputers entirely in the U.S. for the first time.
• Its Blackwell AI chips have started production in Phoenix at Taiwan Semiconductor plants.
• The news comes after President Donald Trump imposed high reciprocal tariffs on a long list of countries.