Recently, Mary Pieterse-Bloem, Professor of Financial Markets at Erasmus School of Economics, appeared on an episode of BNR Nieuwsradio. Together with Reinder Wietsma, portfolio manager at investment fund Centive, she discusses the impact the trade war is having on the first quarter of chip companies.
The numbers presented by chip companies from the first quarter was hugely favourable. This was mainly due to the tremendously high underlying demand for chips. Still, Trump's import tariffs are having a significant impact. For instance, Trump threatened to impose a 100% import duty against TSMC, which fortunately for the company was eventually swept off the table. 'That does indicate that such a company, which comes out with very strong quarterly earnings, is also surrounded by huge uncertainty. That also applies to our own ASML,' Pieterse-Bloem argues.
How things go for these chip companies depends on the future plans surrounding import tariffs. If Trump continues to push through import tariffs and other countries respond with counter-tariffs, there is a chance of escalation and the economy certainly won’t benefit from it. If negotiations start and tariffs will (largely) disappear, the global economy could rebound, Pieterse-Bloem says.
- Professor
- More information
You can listen to the full episode from BNR Nieuwsradio, 22 April 2025, here.
