Giant chipmaker TSMC to spend $100B to expand chip manufacturing in US, Trump announces

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By DIDI TANG and MICHELLE L. PRICE

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. plans to invest $100 billion in the United States, President Donald Trump said Monday, on top of $65 billion in investments the company had previously announced.

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TSMC, the world’s biggest semiconductor manufacturer, produces chips for companies including Apple, Intel and Nvidia. The company had already begun constructing three plants in Arizona after the Biden administration offered billions in subsidies. Its first factory in Arizona has started mass production of its 4-nanometer chips.

Trump, who appeared with TSMC’s chief executive officer C. C. Wei at the White House, called it a “tremendous move” and “a matter of economic security.”

“Semiconductors are the backbone of the 21st century economy. And really, without the semiconductors, there is no economy,” the president said. “Powering everything from AI to automobiles to advanced manufacturing, we must be able to build the chips and semiconductors that we need right here in American factories with Americans skill and American labor.”

Wei said the investment will be for three more chip manufacturing plants, along with two packaging facilities, in Arizona.

The $165 billion investment “is going to create thousands of high-paying jobs,” Wei said.

Former President Joe Biden in 2022 signed a sweeping $280 billion law, the CHIPS and Science Act, to try to reinvigorate chip manufacturing in the U.S., especially after the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the pandemic, chip factories, especially those overseas making the majority of processors, shut down. It had a ripple effect that led to wider problems, such as automobile factory assembly lines shutting down and fueled inflation.

Trump has criticized the law and taken a different approach, instead threatening to impose high tariffs on imported chips to bring chip manufacturing back to the U.S.

Trump also has said companies like TSMC do not need federal tax incentives.

When asked if the new investment could minimize impact on the U.S. should China either isolate or seize Taiwan, Trump said he couldn’t say “minimize” because “that would be a catastrophic event obviously.”

Taiwan is an island that broke away from mainland China in 1949 following a civil war. Beijing claims sovereignty over the island and has ratcheted up military and diplomatic pressure on its leaders.

“It will at least give us a position where we have, in this very, very important business, we would have a very big part of it in the United States,” Trump said of the chip manufacturing.

He did not say if the investment would provide security for the self-governed island that Beijing considers to be part of Chinese territory.

Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, the island’s de-facto embassy in the United States, said investments by Taiwanese businesses in the U.S. have exceeded 40% of the island’s total foreign investments and that the Taiwanese government is “glad” to see Taiwanese businesses to expand investments in the U.S. and to deep cooperation on supply chain between the two sides.

“It also brings the economic and trade relations closer,” the office said.

Trump has hosted multiple business leaders at the White House since he took office in January to tout a series of investments that aim to demonstrate his leadership is a boon for the U.S. economy. He’s also pointed to the tariff threats as prodding the investments.

“It’s the incentive we’ve created. Or the negative incentive,” Trump said.

In January, he appeared with the heads of OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank at the White House as they announced plans for a new partnership to invest up to $500 billion for infrastructure tied to artificial intelligence. He also announced in January a $20 billion investment by DAMAC Properties in the United Arab Emirates to build data centers tied to AI.

Last week, after Apple CEO Tim Cook met with Trump at the White House, the company announced plans to invest more than $500 billion in the U.S. over the next four years, including plans for a new server factory in Texas. Trump said after their meeting that Cook promised him Apple’s manufacturing would shift from Mexico to the U.S.

“I don’t have time to do all of these announcements,” Trump joked Monday as he listed some of the other investments.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the planned announcement Monday.

Associated Press writer Chris Megerian contributed to this report. Price reported from New York.

How Trump’s history with Russia and Ukraine set the stage for a blowup with Zelenskyy

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By ERIC TUCKER

WASHINGTON (AP) — As his White House meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart devolved into a stunning blowup, President Donald Trump leaned on a familiar refrain to explain his unique kinship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

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“Putin went through a hell of a lot with me,” Trump said Friday, raising his voice and gesturing with his hands as he recounted the long-since-concluded saga of a federal investigation in which both he and the Russian president played starring roles.

“He went through a phony witch hunt where they used him and Russia. Russia, Russia, Russia, ever hear of that deal?” Trump said.

The reference to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election underscored the extent to which Trump’s lingering fury over an inquiry he has misleadingly branded a “hoax” remains top of mind more than eight years after it began.

It also showed that Trump’s view of a war Russia launched against Ukraine three years ago is colored not only by his relationship with Putin and the alliance he believes they share but also by his fraught past with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was a central player in the first of two impeachment cases against Trump during his first four years in office.

Here’s a look at what the American president means when he says “Russia, Russia, Russia”:

Investigations tied to Putin connections

Questions over Trump’s connections to Putin followed him into his first presidency and hung over him for most of his term, spurring investigations by the Justice Department and Congress and the appointment of a special counsel who brought criminal charges against multiple Trump allies.

While running for office, Trump cast doubt on the idea that Russian government hackers had stolen the emails of Democrats, including his 2016 rival Hillary Clinton, and orchestrated their public release in an effort to boost his candidacy and harm hers.

Then, as president, he broke with his own intelligence community’s firm finding that Russia and Russia alone was to blame for the hack. Even when he begrudgingly conceded that Russia might be responsible, he also suggested the culprit might be a “400-pound genius sitting in bed and playing with his computer.”

In July 2018, while meeting with Putin in Helsinki, Trump appeared to embrace the Russian leader’s protestations over the conclusions of U.S. intelligence officials by saying, “I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.”

He added that “I don’t see any reason why it would be” Russia.

All the while, he memorably raged against the investigation, calling it a “hoax” and “witch hunt” and, as he did at the White House last week, repeatedly deriding all the “Russia, Russia, Russia” attention.

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation wrapped up in 2019 and left no doubt that Russia had interfered in the election in sweeping and criminal fashion and that the Trump campaign had welcomed the help. But the inquiry did not find sufficient evidence to prove that the two sides had illegally colluded to tip the outcome of the election.

‘Do us a favor’

If Trump’s history with Russia appears to have contributed to his worldview of the current conflict, so too has his past with Ukraine.

He held a call in 2019 with Zelenskyy and pushed him to investigate corruption allegations against Democratic rival Joe Biden and Biden’s son Hunter ahead of the 2020 election, which Joe Biden went on to win.

The call — which included Trump’s memorable line: “I would like you to do us a favor, though” — was reported to congressional leaders and to a government watchdog by a CIA officer-turned-whistleblower who said the president appeared to be soliciting interference from a foreign country in the U.S. election.

After Trump’s call with Zelenskyy, the White House temporarily halted U.S. aid to the struggling ally facing hostile Russian forces at its border. The money was eventually released as Congress intervened.

Trump was subsequently impeached by the House but acquitted by the Senate.

The president’s skepticism of Ukraine went beyond the call. During his first term, he also seemingly bought into a long-discredited conspiracy theory that connects Ukraine, not Russia, to the 2016 political interference and the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and repeatedly accused the FBI of a lackluster investigation that led to the blaming of the Kremlin.

What happens next?

The long-term repercussions of the Oval Office spat, in which Trump called Zelenskyy “disrespectful” in the most hostile public exchange in memory between world leaders at the White House, remain to be seen.

But the immediate consequences are clear: Zelenskyy left Washington without signing a minerals deal that Trump said would have moved Ukraine closer to ending its war with Russia.

He’s not welcome back, Trump said on social media, until he’s “ready for Peace.” On Monday, the U.S. president again blasted the Ukrainian leader after Zelenskyy noted that a deal to end the war “is still very, very far away.”

With the U.S.-Ukraine relationship now in jeopardy, Zelenskyy has used a series of posts on X to express his thanks to the American people, Trump and Congress for “all the support.”

European leaders, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, have embraced Zelenskyy in the aftermath of the White House fight.

In Russia, officials are relishing the conflict, sensing an opportunity to move closer to the U.S. and bring about a halt in American aid for Kyiv. That window seemed to open last month when the U.S., in a dramatic reversal, split from European allies by refusing to blame Russia for its invasion of Ukraine in votes on U.N. resolutions seeking an end to the war.

In an interview with a Russian state TV reporter that aired Sunday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the new U.S. administration is “rapidly changing all foreign policy configurations.”

“This largely coincides with our vision,” he added.

Women’s basketball: Gophers coach Dawn Plitzuweit makes her NCAA Tournament pitch

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Like a senior scorer willing her team to victory, Dawn Plitzuweit didn’t hesitate to take her shot on Monday.

Speaking to reporters, the Gophers women’s basketball coach was asked if she thinks her 20-win team will be an NCAA tournament team regardless of what happens in Minnesota’s first-round Big Ten tournament game Wednesday against Washington.

“I really can’t answer that,” Plitzuweit said.

As far as whether the Gophers deserve a shot, she said, “I absolutely do.”

In the leadup to Wednesday’s 2:30 p.m. CT tip against the Huskies, the Gophers (20-10, 8-10) are absolutely on the bubble to get one of the NCAA tournament’s 68 invitations. Further, they probably need to beat Washington (18-12, 9-9) to convince some, if not all, of the selection committee.

Minnesota lost fairly convincingly to the Huskies on Feb. 26, and in fact lost seven of their last 10 regular-season games. They finished 0-7 against ranked opponents, 0-7 in Quad 1 games — a key metric in determining the field — and finished 13th in the 18-team Big Ten.

The Big Ten has never sent more than seven teams to the NCAA tournament in one year, a feat matched last year, when Iowa, one of four top seeds, lost to South Carolina in the championship game. Thirteen seems like a push.

But Plitzuweit doesn’t think so, and she has a point. And took her shot.

“I would say this. The landscape of college athletics is totally different; it completely changed, 100 percent changed,” she said. “So, if you look at historical numbers of teams that get in from conferences, that all has to go right out the window. It has to.”

After adding Oregon, Southern Cal, UCLA and Washington this season, the Big Ten is up to 18 teams. All four are among the Top 43 in NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool) rankings, which take into account metrics such as results, strength of schedule, game location, offensive and defensive efficiency, and the quality of a team’s wins and losses. UCLA is ranked fifth, Southern Cal sixth, tops among the conference’s 11 teams in the top 41 in a poll the selection committee uses to choose 37 at-large participants in the 68-team tournament.

Heading into Wednesday’s game, Minnesota is ranked No. 38.

“You’ve added four really good teams to our already strong conference and then the other teams have gotten better, too,” Plitzuweit said.

One of those teams is Minnesota, which won five conference games in a 14-team league last season, then advanced to the WNIT final. This season, the Gophers won eight league games but still finished under .500 in conference, another indicator.

“You’re looking at 13 teams in the Top 43 or so of the net. That’s unbelievable,” the Gophers coach added. “When you listen to, or read up on the bracketologists, they’re saying there are 13 teams that are NCAA tournament teams.”

ESPN, in fact, had Minnesota and Washington among the “last four in” on Monday. So does Megan Gauer of herhoops.com, which presumably means they think neither team has to win on Wednesday to make it.

USAToday has three Big Ten teams with Top 4 seeds: UCLA (1), Southern Cal (1) and Ohio State (4). The Gophers lost to all three on the road, getting clobbered by the Bruins but putting a late scare into USC and pushing the Buckeyes to overtime.

All seven of the Gophers games against ranked teams, in fact, were on the road — Nebraska was ranked No. 24 when they played — and seven of their 10 losses were to opponents ranked among the NET’s top 31 teams. The problem is Minnesota has more good losses — slim setbacks at No. 15 Maryland, No. 3 Ohio State and No. 2 USC — than good wins Illinois (No. 31 NET) and Indiana (No, 39).

“This is unprecedented. This is the best, in my opinion,” Plitzuweit said. “The Big Ten women’s basketball conference is the deepest ever in the history of NCAA women’s basketball. It’s never been like this before.”

There’s one way, of course, for the Gophers to take the guess work out of it. The winner of Wednesday’s game advances to play Oregon, a 76-70 winner against Minnesota, on Thursday afternoon.

“I think because our young ladies have competed and knocked off some decent teams, really good teams, and competed with the best teams. I think we have earned an opportunity,” Plitzuweit said. “Now, would it help us to get to work and do some work in the Big Ten tournament? Absolutely.”

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Trump says 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports will start Tuesday, with ‘no room’ for delay

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By ZEKE MILLER, JOSH BOAK and ROB GILLIES, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Monday that 25% taxes on imports from Mexico and Canada would start Tuesday, sparking renewed fears of a North American trade war that already showed signs of pushing up inflation and hindering growth.

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“Tomorrow — tariffs 25% on Canada and 25% on Mexico. And that’ll start,” Trump told reporters in the Roosevelt Room. “They’re going to have to have a tariff.”

Trump has said the tariffs are to force the two U.S. neighbors to step up their fight against fentanyl trafficking and stop illegal immigration. But Trump has also indicated that he wants to even the trade imbalance with both countries as well and push more factories to relocate in the United States.

His comments quickly rattled the U.S. stock market, with the S&P 500 index down 2% in Monday afternoon trading. It’s a sign of the political and economic risks that Trump feels compelled to take, given the possibility of higher inflation and the possible demise of a decades-long trade partnership with Mexico and Canada.

Yet the Trump administration remains confident that tariffs are the best choice to boost U.S. manufacturing and attract foreign investment. Before Trump’s statement on tariffs in response to a question on Tuesday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that the c omputer chipmaker TSMC had expanded its investment in the United States because of the possibility of separate 25% tariffs.

In February, Trump put a 10% tariff on imports from China and reemphasized on Monday that the rate would be doubling to 20% on Tuesday.

Trump provided a one-month delay in February as both Mexico and Canada promised concessions. But Trump said Monday that there was “no room left for Mexico or for Canada” to avoid the steep new tariffs, which were also set to tax Canadian energy products such as oil and electricity at a lower 10% rate.

“If Trump is imposing tariffs, we are ready,” said Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly. “We are ready with $155 billion worth of tariffs and we’re ready with the first tranche of tariffs, which is $30 billion.”

Joly said Canada has a very strong border plan and explained that to Trump administration officials last week. She said the diplomatic efforts are continuing. She spoke after Trump made his comments Tuesday.

Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum went into Monday waiting to see what Trump would say.

“It’s a decision that depends on the United States government, on the United States president,” Sheinbaum said ahead of Trump’s statement. “So whatever his decision is, we will make our decisions and there is a plan, there is unity in Mexico.”

Both countries have tried to show action in response to Trump’s concerns. Mexico sent 10,000 National Guard troops to their shared border to crack down on drug trafficking and illegal immigration. Canada named a fentanyl czar, even though smuggling of the drug from Canada into the United States appears to be relatively modest.

As late as Sunday, it remained unclear what choice Trump would make on tariff rates. Lutnick told Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” that the decision was “fluid.”

“He’s sort of thinking about right now how exactly he wants to play it with Mexico and Canada,” Lutnick said. “And that is a fluid situation. There are going to be tariffs on Tuesday on Mexico and Canada. Exactly what they are, we’re going to leave that for the president and his team to negotiate.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Mexico has also offered to place 20% taxes on all imports from China as part of talks with the United States.

Bessent told CBS News on Sunday that China would “eat” the cost of the tariffs, instead of passing them along to the U.S. businesses and consumers that import their products in the form of higher prices.

But companies ranging from Ford to Walmart have warned about the negative impact that tariffs could create for their businesses. Similarly, multiple analyses by the Peterson Institute for International Economics and the Yale University Budget Lab suggest that an average family could face price increases of more than $1,000.

Trump also plans to roll out what he calls “reciprocal” tariffs on April that would match the rate charged by other countries, including any subsidies and and value added taxes charged by those countries.

The U.S. president has already announced the removal of exemptions from his 2018 tariffs on steel and aluminum, in addition to tariffs on autos, computer chips, copper and pharmaceutical drugs.