Trump plans separate levy on exempted electronics amid trade war, says Lutnick

13 Apr 2025

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick hints at new tariffs on smartphones, computers and some other electronics.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Sunday that smartphones, computers and some other electronics, just exempted from steep tariffs on imports from China, would face separate new duties along with semiconductors within the next two months.

Lutnick's comments on ABC's "This Week" on critical technology products were the latest twist in President Donald Trump's tariff plans, which have upended the global trading order and roiled financial markets since they were announced on April 2, which Trump branded as "Liberation Day."

Late on Friday the Trump administration granted exclusions from the steep reciprocal tariffs on smartphones and a set of other electronics products, which was seen as a big break for technology firms such as Apple and Dell Technologies that rely on imports from China. Lutnick's comments on Sunday suggested that reprieve won't last long.

Trump's back-and-forth on tariffs has ratcheted up the uncertainty faced by investors and businesses, prompting the wildest swings on Wall Street since the COVID pandemic of 2020. The benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index is down more than 10% since Trump took office on January 20.

Lutnick said Trump would enact "a special focus-type of tariff" on smartphones, computers and other electronics products in a month or two, alongside sectoral tariffs targeting semiconductors and pharmaceuticals. The new duties would fall outside Trump's so-called reciprocal tariffs, under which levies on Chinese imports climbed to 125% this week, he said.

"He's saying 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 said in the interview on ABC, predicting that the levies would bring production of those products to the United States. "These are things that are national security, that we need to be made in America."

Lutnick's comments appeared to go beyond what was communicated on Saturday, when a White House official told media that Trump would launch a new national security trade investigation into semiconductors soon that could lead to other new tariffs.

Beijing increased its own tariffs on U.S. imports to 125% on Friday in response. On Sunday, before Lutnick's comments, China said it was evaluating the impact of the exclusions for the technology products implemented late on Friday.

"The bell on a tiger's neck can only be untied by the person who tied it," China's Ministry of Commerce said.

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman, who endorsed Trump's run for president but who has criticized the tariffs, on Sunday called on him to pause the broad and steep reciprocal tariffs on China for three months, as Trump did for most countries last week.

If Trump paused Chinese tariffs for 90 days and cut them to 10% temporarily, "he would achieve the same objective in causing U.S. businesses to relocate their supply chains from China without the disruption and risk," Ackman wrote on X.

'CHANGES EVERY DAY'

Sven Henrich, founder and lead market strategist for NorthmanTrader, was harshly critical of how the tariff issue was being handled on Sunday.

"Sentiment check: The biggest rally of the year would come on the day Lutnick gets fired," Henrich wrote on X. "I suggest the administration figures out who controls the message, whatever it is, as it changes every day. US business can't plan or invest with the constant back and forth."

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, criticized the latest revision to Trump's tariff plan, which economists have warned could dent economic growth and fuel inflation.

"There is no tariff policy - only chaos and corruption" Warren said on ABC's "This Week."

In a notice to shippers late on Friday, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency published a list of tariff codes excluded from the import taxes. It featured 20 product categories, including computers, laptops, disc drives, semiconductor devices, memory chips and flat panel displays.

For the Chinese imports, the exclusion of the tech products applies only to Trump's reciprocal tariffs, which reached 125% this week. Trump's prior 20% duties on all Chinese imports that he said were related to the fentanyl crisis remain in place.

In an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said the United States has opened an invitation to China to negotiate, but he criticized China's connection to the lethal fentanyl supply chain and did not include it on a list of seven entities -- the United Kingdom, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Israel -- with which he said the administration was in talks.

Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on CBS's "Face the Nation" that there were no plans yet for Trump to speak to Chinese President Xi Jinping on tariffs, accusing China of creating trade friction by responding with levies of its own. But he expressed hopes for some non-Chinese deals.

"My goal is to get meaningful deals before 90 days, and I think we're going to be there with several countries in the next few weeks," Greer said.

Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of the world's biggest hedge fund, told "Meet the Press" that he was worried about the United States sliding into recession, or worse, as a result of the tariffs.

"Right now we are at a decision-making point and very close to a recession," Dalio said on Sunday. "And I'm worried about something worse than a recession if this isn't handled well." DM

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'CHANGES EVERY DAY'