Trump’s commerce secretary says new electronics tariff exemptions are temporary, chip tariffs coming

Tariff exemptions announced Friday (April 11, 2025) 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, U.S. CommerceU.S. CommerceU.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday (April 13, 2025).

White House officials, including President Donald Trump himself, spent Sunday (April 13, 2025) downplaying the significance of exemptions that lessen but won’t eliminate the effect of U.S. tariffs on imports of popular consumer devices and their key components.

“They’re exempt from the reciprocal tariffs, but they’re included in the semiconductor tariffs, which are coming in probably a month or two,” Mr. Lutnick told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday (April 13, 2025).