Professor and analyst Chen Ping-Kuei says Taiwanese companies are preparing for the worst-case scenario ahead of Trump's plans for tariffs on consumer electronic goods but may also catch a break if essential products receive exemptions.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00As the Trump administration is preparing for a special tariff on consumer electronics,
00:05how are companies preparing for a best and worst case scenario?
00:09So I think for companies, they're moving toward the worst case scenario. They're preparing for
00:16the worst case scenario because the fact that the tariff was imposed on them, that means it is
00:24already beyond their imagination. It is not like what they imagined or what a Trump policy would be.
00:31So the intensity and unpredictability of Trump's policy make these companies to do a preparation
00:40first. So I think these companies will anticipate a decrease of consumer confidence and a decrease
00:50of consumptions in the US. Therefore, they would decrease production ahead as well.
00:56So is there even a best case scenario at all for Taiwanese companies?
01:01So the best case scenario is that some of the consumer products that is especially needed by
01:08the ordinary people in the US, those products will be examined using different ways, whether you change
01:16the country of origin or you just examine the tax, the tariff for that category. Either way,
01:23there are some ways to examine the tax that will make these companies, they don't have to raise the
01:31price in the US consumer market. Taking all of that uncertainty into account,
01:37is there anything that we have definitively learned so far?
01:40There is an incoherent view within Trump's team. So that's something that we need to pay attention.
01:49I think whether the Trade Representative Office and the White House and Congress,
01:58they will force the Trump administration to put out different policies. I think this will be the key.