Tariffs: Trump Looking at Entire Electronics Supply Chain

He says exemption is temporary and plans to apply different, specific tariff to sector

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US President Donald Trump pledged he will still apply tariffs to phones, computers and popular consumer electronics, downplaying a weekend exemption as a procedural step in his overall push to remake US trade.

The late April 11 reprieve – exempting a range of popular electronics from 125 per cent tariffs on China and a 10 per cent flat rate around the globe – is temporary and a procedural step in the long-standing plan to apply a different, specific tariff to the sector. Mr. Trump doubled down on the plan on April 13.

“NOBODY is getting ‘off the hook’,” Mr. Trump said in an April 13 social media post, issued shortly after he finished his golf game. The exempted products are “just moving to a different Tariff ‘bucket’,” and the administration will be “taking a look at Semiconductors and the WHOLE ELECTRONICS SUPPLY CHAIN,” he added.

Taken together, the comments from Mr. Trump and two of his top trade chiefs on April 13 are a stark reminder of the scope of his planned tariff onslaught. Still, the manoeuvre means weeks, maybe months, without extra tariffs on the array of phones and computers before the specific sectoral tariff on electronics kicks in. It also opens a window for companies and lobbyists to push for different parameters and exclusions.

The exemptions were published in a US Customs and Border Protection document late on April 11, and are a step to shift those products ultimately to a different tariff, which Mr. Trump has long threatened for semiconductors, without specifying the scope.

Mr. Trump already carved out those sectors he plans to specifically target from being hit by both those tariffs and the across-the-board ones on countries he enacted this month in his “Liberation Day” announcement that triggered a market sell-off.