TAIPEI (Reuters) — Taiwan President Lai Ching-te met tech executives on Saturday to discuss how to respond to new U.S. tariffs, promising to ensure Taiwan’s global competitiveness and safeguard the island’s interests.

President Donald Trump announced across-the-board import tariffs on Wednesday… The U.S. tariffs, however, do not apply to semiconductors, a major Taiwanese export.

Lai met the executives at his official residence to discuss the response to “the global economic and trade challenges brought about by the reciprocal tariff policy,” his spokesperson Karen Kuo said in a statement.

She did not say which companies were present, only that there were several representatives from the information and communications technology, or ICT, industry.

Lai “hopes to give industry the greatest support, stabilise the economic situation, ensure Taiwan’s industry’s global competitiveness, and safeguard our country’s national interests and the continued steady progress of our economy,” Kuo said.

Taiwan is home to TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker and an important supplier to companies including Apple and Nvidia.

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