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President Trump defended his move on Friday to save some electronic devices from the escalating tariff war with China.
He denied that the announcement equaled an “exception”, instead believing that the products were transferred to different tariff “barrels” and suggested that his government could still impose separate tariffs on the semiconductor industry and the broader electronics supply chain.
“There are no tariffs ‘exceptions’ on Friday,” Trump wrote in a Truth Society post on Sunday. “These products are subject to the existing 20% fentanyl tariff, they just turn to different tariffs ‘buckets.'”
“We are looking at the semiconductor and the entire electronics supply chain in the upcoming national security tariff investigation,” he added.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s responsibilities for collecting imports, released updated guidance on Friday noting that about 20 products, including smartphones, computers, routers and semiconductor chips, will be excluded from “reciprocal” tariffs in countries including China.
Trump raised China’s tariffs to 125% on 20% tax as he added 90-day pauses to tariffs in other countries, resulting in proportion to Beijing’s reaction.
This has heightened concerns about a huge trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
Trump slammed the media in his Truth Social Post to cover Friday’s guidance as a softening of his position in China.
“No one will be out of the barriers for unfair trade balances, not monetary tariffs, and other countries have fought against us, especially China, which is by far the worst!” Trump wrote in his post on Truth Society.
Trump’s speech and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday that tariff exemptions on smartphones and other electronic products will only be temporary.
“This is not like a permanent exemption. (Trump’s) just clarified that these exemptions are impossible to negotiate by the state. These are national security things that we need to make in the United States.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Saturday that Trump remains committed to seeing more exempted products and parts produced at home.
“President Trump made it clear that the United States cannot rely on China to make key technologies,” she said, and in his direction, tech companies are “busy to manufacture onshore U.S. as soon as possible.”