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US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick has warned that smartphones, computers and other electronics made in China will still face tariffs, dealing a blow to hopes of a reprieve for Big Tech companies such as Apple, Nvidia and Microsoft.
Donald Trump’s administration this weekend excluded phones and other consumer electronics from steep “reciprocal” tariffs in what was a significant boost for tech groups whose stock plunged after the president unleashed a global trade war on “liberation day”.
But speaking on ABC’s This Week on Sunday, Lutnick said such products would be re-examined as part of a government probe into semiconductors, which face a separate round of tariffs.
“What he’s doing is he’s saying they’re exempt from the reciprocal tariffs,” Lutnick said, referring to the US president. “But they’re included in the semiconductor tariffs, which are coming in probably a month or two.”
When asked to clarify whether tariffs on iPhones might “come back on in a month or so”, Lutnick replied: “Correct. That’s right . . . We need our medicines and we need semiconductors and our electronics to be built in America.”
The latest U-turn on tariffs will spark further uncertainty for businesses about the impact of Trump’s trade war, which was marked by a series of reversals last week that caused a rollercoaster in public markets and a dramatic sell-off in the $29tn US Treasuries market.
Any softening of tariffs on Chinese imports would be a big win for the likes of Microsoft and Apple, which makes about 80 per cent of its iPhones in China, according to analyst estimates.
Over the course of the past week, Trump ratcheted up his extra tariffs on China to 145 per cent, even as he offered a 90-day pause on his “reciprocal” tariffs on other countries. The president maintained a 10 per cent tariff on most US trading partners.
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said on Sunday that the US would talk to its trading partners. “We’ve got 90 deals in 90 days possibly pending here, and it was par for the course,” Navarro said.
US levies on Chinese imports, which have been increased in response to retaliatory tariffs from Beijing, include a 20 per cent tariff in retaliation for the country’s role in fentanyl production alongside a 125 per cent “reciprocal” tariff.
The exemptions offered to consumer technology goods on Friday apply only to reciprocal tariffs. All imports from China, including goods exempt from reciprocal levies, are still subject to an extra 20 per cent tariff under Trump.
Beijing on Sunday urged the White House to cancel the full extent of the “reciprocal” tariffs, arguing that “there are no winners in a trade war, and there is no way out for protectionism”.
China’s Ministry of Commerce said it was a “small step for the US to correct its wrongful unilateral reciprocal tariffs”, but that it was “evaluating the relevant impact”.
It added that the US should “take a big step in correcting its mistakes, completely cancel the wrong practice of reciprocal tariffs and return to the correct path of mutual respect”.
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