US President Donald Trump has said that on Monday he will share the details of his tariff exemptions announced Friday on electronics like smartphones and laptops soon. Speaking to media aboard Air Force One, Trump said, "I'll give you that answer (on exemptions to tariffs for semiconductors) on Monday. We'll be very specific."
Tariff exemptions announced Friday on electronics like smartphones and laptops are only a temporary reprieve until the Trump administration develops a new tariff approach specific to the semiconductor industry, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday.
“They’re exempt from the reciprocal tariffs but they’re included in the semiconductor tariffs, which are coming in probably a month or two,” Lutnick told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.
President Donald Trump added to the confusion hours later, declaring on social media that there was no “exception” at all because the goods are “just moving to a different" bucket and will still face a 20 per cent tariff as part of his administration's move to punish China for its role in fentanyl trafficking.The Trump administration late Friday had said it would exclude electronics from broader so-called reciprocal tariffs, a move that could help keep the prices down for popular consumer devices that aren’t usually made in the US The move was expected to benefit big tech companies like Apple and Samsung and chip makers like Nvidia, though the uncertainty of future tariffs may rein in an expected tech stock rally on Monday.
US Customs and Border Protection said items like smartphones, laptops, hard drives, flat-panel monitors and some chips would qualify for the exemption. Machines used to make semiconductors are excluded too. That means they won't be subject to most of the tariffs levied on China or the 10% baseline tariffs elsewhere.It's the latest tariff change by the Trump administration, which has made several U-turns in its massive plan to put tariffs in place on goods from most countries. Lutnick's comments Sunday made clear that more changes were on the way, including a policy specific to the computer chip industry.
(Inputs From AP)
