Trump Says Tariff Threat Drove U.S. Investments, Blasts Biden on Energy
'You should get rid of the CHIPS Act and whatever’s left over, Mr. Speaker, you should use it to reduce debt.'
Blake Ledbetter, Drew Clark
WASHINGTON, Mar. 5, 2025 – In his joint congressional address to the House and Senate on Tuesday night, President Donald Trump painted an economic vision centered around “America First” tariffs that, he said, had already promoted technology-focused investment in America.
He also drew a sharp critique of former President Joe Biden’s role in pushing for passage of the CHIPS and Science Act, among other topics, and suggested that the money for the law was not well spent.
“Thanks to our America First policies we are putting into place, we have had $1.7 trillion of new investment in America in just the past few weeks,” Trump said. Touting a proposed $200 billion investment from Japanese investment company Softbank, which ultimately led to a $500 billion investment in AI data centers with OpenAI and Oracle’s Larry Ellison, Trump said they made an investment “they wouldn’t have done if Kamala [Harris] had won.”
Among the topics discussed were artificial intelligence, energies, and a sharp critique of the CHIPS Act.
Trump highlighted artificial intelligence as a key driver of economic growth, and touted additional investments by Apple and the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).
“Apple announced $500 billion investment. Tim Cook called me. He said: I cannot spend it fast enough. It’s going to be much higher than that I believe. They will be building their plants here instead of in China,” Trump said.
“And just yesterday, Taiwan Semiconductor, the biggest in the world, most powerful in the world, has a tremendous amount, 97 percent of the market, announced a $165 billion investment to build the most powerful chips on earth, right here in the U.S.A.
“And we are not giving them any money. Your CHIPS Act is a horrible, horrible thing,” he said, referring to the August 2022 measure that promotes domestic research and promotion of semiconductor promotion in the U.S. “We give hundreds of billions of dollars and it doesn’t mean a thing. They take our money and they don’t spend it. All that meant to them — we giving them no money — all that was important to them was that they didn’t want to pay the tariffs, so they came and are building, and many other companies are coming.
‘We don’t have to give them money; we just want to protect our businesses and our people, and they will come because they won’t have to pay tariffs if they build in America. That feels like it’s amazing. You should get rid of the CHIP Act and whatever’s left over, Mr. Speaker, you should use it to reduce debt. Or any other reason you want to.”
Biden's energy policies scrutinized
Trump also used his address to criticize Biden’s energy policies, blaming them for rising costs and economic stagnation.
“A major focus of our fight to defeat inflation is rapidly reducing the cost of energy,” he said, accusing the Biden administration of cutting the number of new oil and gas leases by 95%, stalling pipeline construction, and shutting down more than 100 power plants.
“We are opening up many of those power plants right now,” he said.
Reiterating his push for increased domestic energy production, Trump said that he had reversed many of Biden’s policies and reinstated drilling projects. One of his signature phrases, “Drill, baby, drill,” prompted enthusiastic chants from Republican lawmakers in the chamber.
