Since taking office, the President has done what politicians rarely do: He’s delivered on his promise. And his pragmatic consequences-and-rewards framework has already produced historic investment commitments.
Now comes the hard part—holding companies’ feet to the fire and ensuring they follow through on their commitments to receive temporary tariff exemptions. The best way to ensure compliance is to incentivize tech companies to buy their chips from facilities here in the U.S, creating and sustaining the good jobs that President Trump is intent on delivering.
We will soon have a real test. Recently, executives of many of the country’s largest tech companies lined up to attend a White House dinner, where the President once again announced his plan to impose “fairly significant” tariffs on semiconductors, the tiny chips that power virtually all kinds of modern electronics. The tariffs could be as high as 100 percent on foreign-made products, according to the administration.
Attendees lavished praise on the President, applauding him for, as Bill Gates put it, “setting the tone such that we could make a major investment in the United States”—investments that they were not shy to promote. Collectively, the tech leaders have pledged more than $2 trillion in investment, surpassing the annual GDP of many countries. President Trump deserves the credit. But he shouldn’t let these companies—which have a seedy record of promising the moon but delivering little more than stardust—pull the wool over his administration’s eyes. An investment is not worth much until it’s in the ground, and tech makers should not get a free pass on lofty promises alone, which could, and often have, proven empty.
Companies like Apple and Google don’t make these commitments out of the goodness of their hearts. They hope to curry favor, avoid the hammer of Trump’s tariffs, and maintain access to cheap chips, thereby protecting their market control. Some seem to simply be doubling down on hollow promises made to the last administration that haven’t yet, and may never, materialize.
Consider Apple. It was stated during President Trump’s first term that it would invest $350 billion in the U.S., a sum that escalated under Biden and is now being increased by Trump 2.0 to a whopping $600 billion. The result has been less impressive. Much of this so-called investment has consisted of massive stock buybacks and recycled packaging for existing company plans. It’s akin to kicking the can down the road. Policymakers should be skeptical about whether it will ever come to fruition. Silicon Valley’s poor track record raises the question: how can the government better ensure that U.S. tech titans’ investment assurances actually lead to real jobs, factories, and made-in-America products? As the Department of Commerce’s recent Section 232 investigation suggests, our country’s national security and ability to compete with China are at stake.
To start, the Trump administration should require companies attending the White House dinner to purchase their semiconductors from U.S. manufacturers, thereby avoiding the tariffs. That will create a genuine incentive to buy domestic, thereby boosting American capabilities and enhancing supply chain security. Next, the administration should provide tariff exemptions only to companies whose U.S.-expansion projects are on track. Set clear expectations and require that they be met to receive the reward. If companies fail to meet the benchmarks, they should be held accountable.
Finally, the administration should ensure exemptions are made only for apples-to-apples products. Companies should not be allowed to import $1 million of chips at the bleeding-edge duty-free rate because they have purchased $1 million of leading-edge chips domestically.
If there’s one person who can compel the United States’ tech giants to make good on their word, it’s President Trump. Which is why I expect his final semiconductor tariffs plan to close the door on empty promises—now, deliver, never— investment commitments. I trust that President Trump and his advisors will see through the niceties of tech giants and hold these companies accountable. America’s position as a global innovation leader could depend on it.
Aiden Buzzetti is the President of the Bull Moose Project.
