00:00This furniture store in the central Taiwan city of Taichung has given up on the U.S.
00:06It's seen income drop 80% due to Trump administration tariffs.
00:10And with an extra 30% tariff on soft furniture coming October 1st,
00:14the owners have decided the U.S. market just isn't worth it anymore.
00:30Taiwan's government has been working to support industries affected by the U.S.'s 20% tariff on Taiwanese goods.
00:40But the country's International Trade Administration did not respond to Taiwan Plus' request for comment on these new tariffs.
00:46But furniture makers and Taiwanese exporters overall are not the only ones who will feel the burn from new duties.
00:52There will also be a 25% tariff on heavy vehicles, a 50% tariff on kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities,
01:00and a 100% tariff on patented drugs made by companies that don't produce in the U.S.
01:05Some economists think specific countries like Japan, Singapore and India
01:09could try to reach a deal with the U.S. to ease some of the pain on their medicine makers.
01:14There's also a view that industry will adapt,
01:17with supply chains spreading out to countries subject to lower overall U.S. tariffs.
01:21No matter where you move, then the tariff will be the same.
01:25But I think companies will naturally assume, for example,
01:30some countries are safer than others.
01:32For example, Singapore, which doesn't have a trade surplus with the United States,
01:37will subject to lower tariff moving forward.
01:40So I think the idea is to diversify supply chain rather than permanently moving the facilities elsewhere.
01:50So I guess, for example, the Chinese manufacturer of furnitures will perhaps look at different options,
01:56for example, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
01:59But U.S. tariffs may not end here.
02:03U.S. President Donald Trump says he wants to move from taxing physical goods to cultural imports.
02:08He's repeated a call he made earlier, in May, to put a 100% tariff on movies made outside the U.S.
02:15It's unclear how that would work or what legal authority Trump has to go ahead with the policy.
02:19If the idea were workable, it would upend Hollywood's often cross-border production model.
02:26But in the industry, at least, it seems the idea isn't yet causing too much worry.
02:30Until it becomes more substantive than just a tweet, it's sort of hard to have anything to react to.
02:37You know, there could be a proclamation at some point.
02:40There could be a federal register at some point.
02:43Notice, you know, and then you would get a little more meat on the bones in terms of, okay, this is what we can react to.
02:50And obviously, anything they did would, you know, there would be a lawsuit saying that this is an illegal infringement on, you know, free speech and so on.
02:59But until there's actually some substance to react to, it's sort of hard to even take it that seriously, although you do have to certainly pay attention to it.
03:09Even if unworkable, the idea of attacks on foreign-made films shows that even over half a year into the second Trump administration, questions about U.S. trade policy may not be settled soon.
03:21Luffy Lee and John Van Trieste for Taiwan Plus.
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