Trump plans tariffs on foreign PC chips, pharma; calls DeepSeek progress a 'wakeup call'

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a House Republican members conference meeting in Trump National Doral resort, in Miami, Florida, U.S. January 27, 2025. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz

President Donald Trump has renewed his tariff threat in an address to House Republicans on January 27, and said that he would impose tariffs on foreign pharma, chips and metals soon.

"In the very near future we’re going to be placing tariffs on foreign production of computer chips, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals to return production of these essential goods to the United States of America,” Trump said on Monday while addressing House Republicans in Miami. Trump said he would "also be placing tariffs on steel, aluminum and copper."

Trump said companies looking to avoid tariffs would need to move operations to the US. "The only way you’ll get out of this is to build your plant. If you want to stop paying the taxes or the tariffs you have to build your plant right here in America," Trump said.

This is the first time that the President has shared details of his proposed tariff regime since his inauguration earlier this month, and comes just days after the tariff threat to Canada, Mexico and China.

President Trump's comments on semiconductor tariffs have come on a day when Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek triggered a massive selloff on Wall Street, wiping out billions from Nvidia's market capitalization.

"The release of DeepSeek, AI from a Chinese company should be a wakeup call for our industries that we need to be laser-focused on competing to win," Trump said.

Trump called DeepSeek's advancement as a positive, and said their breakthrough is “good, because you don’t have to spend as much money.”

"I've been reading about China and some of the companies in China, one in particular coming up with a faster method of AI and much less expensive method, and that's good because you don't have to spend as much money. I view that as a positive, as an asset," Trump said.

"Because we have the greatest scientists in the world, even Chinese leadership told me that. They said you have the most brilliant scientists in the world," Trump added.