The president\u2019s pledge means the exclusion of smartphones and computers from his reciprocal tariffs on China is likely to be short-lived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WASHINGTON \u2014 President Donald Trump on Sunday said he would be announcing the tariff rate on imported semiconductors over the next week, adding that there would be flexibility with some companies in the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The president\u2019s pledge means that the exclusion of smartphones and computers from his reciprocal tariffs on China likely will be short-lived as Trump looks to reset trade in the semiconductor sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe wanted to uncomplicate it from a lot of other companies, because we want to make our chips and semiconductors and other things in our country,\u201d Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he traveled back to Washington from his estate in West Palm Beach, Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump declined to say whether some products such as smartphones might still end up being exempted but added: \u201cYou have to show a certain flexibility. Nobody should be so rigid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier in the day, Trump announced a national security trade probe into the semiconductor sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are taking a look at Semiconductors and the WHOLE ELECTRONICS SUPPLY CHAIN in the upcoming National Security Tariff Investigations,\u201d he posted on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The White House had announced the exclusions from\u2002steep reciprocal tariffs\u2002on Friday<\/a>, creating some hope that the tech industry might escape being ensnared in the escalating conflict between the two nations and that everyday consumer products such as phones and laptops would remain affordable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, Trump\u2019s commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, earlier on Sunday made clear that critical technology products from China would face separate new duties along with semiconductors within the next two months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump\u2019s back-and-forth\u2002on tariffs<\/a> last week triggered the wildest swings on Wall Street since the Covid pandemic of 2020. The benchmark Standard & Poor\u2019s 500 index is down more than 10% since Trump took office on Jan. 20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lutnick said Trump would enact \u201ca special focus-type of tariff\u201d 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\u2019s so-called reciprocal tariffs, under which levies on Chinese imports climbed to 125% last week, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe\u2019s saying they\u2019re exempt from the reciprocal tariffs, but they\u2019re included in the semiconductor tariffs, which are coming in probably a month or two,\u201d Lutnick said in a television interview on Sunday, predicting the levies would bring production of those products to the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beijing increased\u2002its own tariffs<\/a> on U.S. imports to 125% on Friday in response. On Sunday, before Lutnick\u2019s comments, China said it was evaluating the impact of the exclusions for the technology products implemented late Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe bell on a tiger\u2019s neck can only be untied by the person who tied it,\u201d China\u2019s Ministry of Commerce said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Billionaire investor Bill Ackman, who endorsed Trump\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If Trump paused Chinese tariffs for 90 days and cut them to 10% temporarily, \u201che would achieve the same objective in causing U.S. businesses to relocate their supply chains from China without the disruption and risk,\u201d Ackman wrote on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sven Henrich, founder and lead market strategist for NorthmanTrader, was harshly critical of how the tariff issue was being handled on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSentiment check: The biggest rally of the year would come on the day Lutnick gets fired,\u201d Henrich wrote on X. \u201cI suggest the administration figures out who controls the message, whatever it is, as it changes every day. U.S. business can\u2019t plan or invest with the constant back and forth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, criticized the latest revision to Trump\u2019s tariff plan, which economists have warned could dent economic growth and fuel inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere is no tariff policy \u2014 only chaos and corruption,\u201d Warren said in a television interview on Sunday, speaking before Trump\u2019s latest post on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In an interview on NBC News\u2019 \u201cMeet the Press,\u201d<\/a> White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said the U.S. has opened an invitation to China to negotiate, but he criticized China\u2019s connection to the lethal fentanyl supply chain and did not include it on a list of seven entities \u2014 the United Kingdom, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Israel \u2014 with which he said the administration was in talks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a television appearance on Sunday 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy goal is to get meaningful deals before 90 days, and I think we\u2019re going to be there with several countries in the next few weeks,\u201d Greer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of the world\u2019s biggest hedge fund, told \u201cMeet the Press\u201d that he was worried about the United States sliding into recession<\/a>, or worse, as a result of the tariffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRight now we are at a decision-making point and very close to a recession,\u201d Dalio said Sunday.<\/a> \u201cAnd I\u2019m worried about something worse than a recession if this isn\u2019t handled well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n