TAIPEI, April 28 (Reuters) - Taiwan's Pegatron ( PGTRF )

, an important supplier to Apple ( AAPL ) and Dell

, said on Monday that President Donald Trump's tariffs

were confusing U.S. customers and risked leading to shortages of

consumer electronics in the United States.

Washington's on-again, off-again levies have created

uncertainty for U.S. retailers and disrupted decisions on

shipments, the electronics manufacturer's chairman T.H. Tung

told Reuters on the sidelines of an awards event.

"Within two months, shelves in the United States ... might

resemble those in third-world countries, where people visit

department stores and markets only to find empty shelves, all

because everyone is waiting and seeing," Tung said.

This month, Trump abruptly paused some tariffs targeting

trading partners including Vietnam, Indonesia and India, where

Pegatron ( PGTRF ) has manufacturing bases. A 10% levy on nearly all goods

imported into the U.S. remains, however.

Though meant to provide some relief while trade talks take

place, Tung said U.S. importers will not necessarily take

advantage of the pause by ramping up shipments if they believe

the 10% tariff might be repealed.

Trump's actions had disrupted the seamless logistics at the

centre of the modern global supply chain, Tung said, but added

that Pegatron ( PGTRF ) would stick to its plans.

"Just because Trump raises tariffs doesn't mean the rest of

the world will do the same. Taiwanese contract manufacturers are

sticking to their overseas plans," he said.

"We won't immediately adjust our long-term plans just

because of two or three months of tariff changes. Manufacturing

bases require long-term planning," he added

Pegatron ( PGTRF ) has been diversifying its manufacturing

locations away from China since Trump's first term, expanding to

countries in Southeast Asia as well as Mexico.

Tung said the manufacturing locations were not decided by

Taiwanese contract manufacturers themselves, however, but had to

be negotiated with customers.