Samsung Chief Financial Officer Park Soon-cheol said the company will focus on boosting sales of flagship products and may relocate manufacturing sites to maintain profitability amid tough U.S. tariffs, South Korean outlet Yonhap News reported.
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CFO Park outlined Samsung’s plan for each business unit: The MX (Mobile Experience) unit will boost sales of flagship and peripheral devices to remain profitable, as chip-related tariffs could push up costs. On the other hand, Samsung’s Video Display (VD) and Home Appliances (DA) units are reportedly looking to soften the blow by expanding premium product lines and possibly moving some production overseas.
According to the Korea Economic Daily, Samsung’s smartphone production is mainly concentrated in Vietnam (tariff rate of 46%) and India (tariff rate of 26%), while its TVs are mainly made in Mexico. Analysts cited in the report said Samsung’s MX unit has eight global production sites and could shift production to Brazil (tariff rate of 10%) if it faces higher tariffs in Vietnam.
US President Donald Trump, for his part, said on Wednesday that he had heard that Samsung Electronics was going to build “massive” factories in the United States because of his tariffs, The Korea Herald reported. Trump made the comments during a Cabinet meeting while defending his tariff policy after the Commerce Department reported that US gross domestic product fell 0.3 percent year-on-year in the first three months of 2025, the worst performance in three years.
«”I heard that Samsung is now going to build huge factories in the United States because of the tariffs. If we hadn’t imposed the tariffs, they wouldn’t have done that,” the US president said.
Trump also mentioned Samsung during an event featuring business leaders planning to invest in the United States.
«Even Samsung, whose name is not mentioned here […] I heard they announced this morning that they are going to build a very large plant [in the US] because they want to be able to bypass [our] tariffs. This is the only way to bypass them,” Trump said.
Trump has used import tariffs as part of an effort to raise federal government revenue, attract foreign investment, boost domestic manufacturing and reduce America’s trade deficit. In his final public appearance, he reiterated that foreign companies that manufacture their products in the United States should not have to pay tariffs.