Trump wants to kill subsidised Chips Act

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Tuesday US lawmakers should get rid of a landmark 2022 bipartisan law to give $52.7 billion in subsidies for semiconductor chips manufacturing and production and use the proceeds to pay debt.

"Your CHIPS Act is a horrible, horrible thing. We give hundreds of billions of dollars and it doesn't mean a thing. They take our money and they don't spend it," Trump said in a speech to Congress. "You should get rid of the CHIPS Act and whatever is left over, Mr Speaker, you should use it to reduce debt."

The CHIPS and Science Act signed by then President Joe Biden in August 2022 included $39 billion in subsidies for US semiconductor manufacturing and related components along with $75 billion in government lending authority.

The comments were Trump's strongest criticism of the bipartisan CHIPS Act to date. "We don't have to give them money" Trump said, suggesting that avoiding new tariffs would be enough to convince them to build US factories.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has praised the programme but said previously he wanted to review awards finalised under Biden.