On September 4th, 2025, Meta Platforms Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg and US President Donald Trump were at a dinner in the state dining room of the White House in Washington, DC.
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President Donald Trump has warned that he will soon impose “pretty substantial” tariffs on semiconductor imports from companies that do not shift production, but will not spare companies like Apple that will expand their investments domestically.
Trump made comments at a dinner at the White House Thursday night, including more than 20 leading technical leaders. apple CEO Tim Cook, MetaWith Mark Zuckerberg Oracle CEO Safra Catz.
“I’ve had some discussions with chips and semiconductors here and people. We’re going to put tariffs on businesses that don’t have one,” the president said.
“We’re going to be putting up tariffs right away. You’ve probably heard that we’re going to put in some pretty serious tariffs or not too expensive, but rather quite a lot.”
Last month, Trump said at an event with the chef that he would impose a 100% tariff on semiconductor imports, but as he exempts products from companies moving manufacturing to the US at the time, Apple pledged $100 billion on domestic manufacturing initiatives, adding the $500 billion announcement announced by Apple in February.
During the event Thursday, Trump noted that “Tim Cook will be in pretty good condition” regarding potential import taxes.
The US has been working along the semiconductor supply chain for many years. The world’s largest semiconductor company since 2020 TSMC Samsung electronics have committed hundreds of billions of dollars to building US plants
Therefore, these major semiconductor companies are expected to receive exemptions under Trump’s potential tariffs. However, many aspects of tariffs and exceptions for businesses investing in the US remain unknown.
Trump provided little detail on Thursday, saying, “If they’re planning on coming in, building, and coming in, there’s no tariffs.”
For the rest of the dinner, from Sam Altman of Openai to Google co-founder Sergey Brin Shower, praised the president for his pro-business and AI stance.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who was released with Trump in June this year, did not attend dinner. However, he said on social media platform X that he was invited but was unable to attend and would send a representative.
Before dinner, First Lady Melania Trump gave a speech alongside senior Trump administration officials and high-tech CEOs for the second meeting of the White House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence Education.
The First Lady emphasized the importance of AI in education and American progress, but said, “We must manage the growth of AI responsibly.”
