US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he heard that South Korean conglomerate Samsung Electronics Co. will construct "massive" facilities in the United States because of his tariffs, as he enumerated his policy achievements made during his first 100 days in office.
Trump made the remarks during a Cabinet meeting, as he defended his tariff policy following a Commerce Department report that US gross domestic product fell at an annual rate of 0.3 percent in the first three months of the year.
"I heard Samsung is now, because of tariffs, they are going to build massive facilities in the United States," Trump said during the meeting at the White House. "If we didn't do the tariffs, they wouldn't be doing that."
Trump also mentioned Samsung during an event involving business leaders with plans to invest in the US.
"Even Samsung whose name isn't mentioned here, but I heard that they announced this morning that they're going to be building a very big plant because they want to be able to beat the tariffs," he said. "It's the only way to beat them."
His remarks came after Samsung Electronics said Wednesday that it is mulling relocating production of some of its television and home appliances to minimize the impact of the Trump administration's new tariffs.
Trump has been leveraging import taxes as part of efforts to increase federal government revenue, draw in foreign investments, boost domestic manufacturing and pare down America's trade deficits, as he repeated that companies that build their products in the US do not need to pay tariffs.
Earlier in the day, the Commerce Department reported the 0.3 percent contraction, adjusted for seasonal factors and inflation, as Trump's new tariffs weighed on the US economy. This marks the worst performance in three years.
In a social media post, Trump blamed his predecessor Joe Biden for having left behind "bad numbers," while calling on people to be "patient."
"I didn't take over until January 20th. Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers. Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden 'Overhang,'" he wrote on Truth Social.
"This will take a while, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS, only that he left us with bad numbers, but when the boom begins, it will be like no other. BE PATIENT!!!" (Yonhap)
