Photo = Yonhap news

 

[Alpha Biz= Kim Jisun] Former U.S. President Donald Trump has publicly claimed that Samsung plans to build a large-scale facility in the United States due to tariff pressures. His remarks, made twice in one day, have sparked speculation about Samsung Electronics’ potential investment strategy in the U.S.

 

 

During a Cabinet meeting at the White House on April 30, Trump stated, "I heard just before the meeting that Samsung plans to build a major facility in the U.S. because of tariffs. If we hadn’t imposed tariffs, they wouldn't be making this investment." He added that while construction would take time, the facility would be “massive.”



Later that day, at the “Investing in America” event attended by CEOs of major global companies such as Hyundai, NVIDIA, and SoftBank, Trump reiterated, “Samsung is building a very large plant in the U.S. to overcome tariffs—I heard this was announced this morning.” Notably, Samsung Electronics was not invited to the event.



Industry observers believe Trump may have been referencing Samsung’s April 30 earnings call, during which CFO Park Soon-chul mentioned plans to mitigate the impact of tariffs by expanding premium product lines and shifting some production volumes to alternative global manufacturing sites. This could have been misinterpreted or amplified by U.S. officials as a formal investment decision.



Currently, Samsung operates a washing machine factory in Newberry, South Carolina, and manufactures refrigerators and dryers in two facilities in Querétaro and Tijuana, Mexico.

 

 

 

 

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