Tech tariff exemptions are only temporary, according to Trump’s commerce secretary

The tech business might not be protected from new tariffs, based on U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

The Trump administration introduced Friday night that consumer electronics such as laptops and smartphones would be exempt from the tariffs it unveiled earlier this month. (Whereas Trump delayed many of those tariffs this week, he left a ten% baseline tariff in place, and likewise levied an extra 125% tariff on Chinese language items.)

Reports about the exemptions famous that tech merchandise may nonetheless be affected by focused tariffs to come back, with semiconductors coming beneath specific scrutiny.

Lutnick made that extra specific on Sunday morning throughout an interview with the ABC present “This Week,” saying that Trump is making these merchandise “exempt from the reciprocal tariffs” however together with them in “the semiconductor tariffs, that are coming in most likely a month or two.”

“All these merchandise are going to come back beneath semiconductors, and so they’re going to have a particular focus kind of tariff to ensure that these merchandise get reshored,” Lutnick mentioned. “We have to have semiconductors, we have to have chips, and we have to have flat panels — we have to have this stuff made in America.”

Pressed on whether or not tariffs will imply larger costs for American customers, Lutnick mentioned, “I don’t suppose so,” and once more emphasised, “I feel the concept is that we will manufacture in America.” (Others have mentioned Lutnick’s vision that “the military of thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of human beings screwing in little screws to make iPhones, that sort of factor goes to come back to America,” is a fantasy.)

Trump himself was asked about semiconductor tariffs this weekend, and he mentioned, “I’ll offer you that reply Monday.”