University of Michigan professor of economics Justin Wolfers, an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump‘s tariff agenda, was asked to discuss Trump’s new proposal of applying a 300% tariff on semiconductors.
On MSNBC, the Harvard-educated economist Wolfers told host Stephanie Ruhl that the tariff proposal is “bananas, it’s berzerk, and it’s a little bit crazy all at once.”
He added, “I thought he already announced he was gonna put a 100% tariff on semiconductors. And the interview that I saw he said, ‘well, maybe 200 or 300 percent now.’ I don’t know about you but that doesn’t sound like a seriously considered policy process to me.”
“if you bring across a semiconductor inside a computer, it’ll get no tariff. But if you pluck it out of the computer, it’ll get 300%.” That’s not policy; that’s a loophole factory. You’ll get creative packaging, not new fabs. pic.twitter.com/ZY6oY5YOxh
— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) August 19, 2025
Wolfers added, “The other thing is last time Trump tried tariffs he realized if we all ended up paying more for our laptops and our cell phones that we would be very upset. So in fact he has a carve out for computers and smartphones, and so the implication is that if you bring across a semiconductor inside a computer it’ll get no tariff but if you pluck it out of the computer, it’ll get 300%.”
With the interview clip, Wolfers wrote: “That’s not policy; that’s a loophole factory. You’ll get creative packaging, not new fabs.”
More than one X user responded to Wolfers with agreement. One contended: “It also means that there is no incentive to build computers in the US that use semiconductors that are imported.”
David Meier, senior equity analyst at The Motley Fool, responded to Wolfers with a quote from the late Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman Charlie Munger: “Show me the incentive, and I’ll show you the outcome.” Beyers added: “I think this is spot on.”
Note: During a 2011 interview, Munger (who was a Republican) was asked if Trump would make a strong leader.
The legendary investor replied: “Well, he might be quite decisive, but do I consider Donald Trump an ideal decision maker or manager of anything? And the answer is no, and the last person almost I’d want to be president of the United States is Donald Trump.”
Charlie Munger provides his thoughts on Donald Trump – his warning was prophetic pic.twitter.com/cVPmeNW8vM
— Triple Net Investor (@TripleNetInvest) April 22, 2025