A real weather vane: after announcing an exception for the American tech sector two days earlier, Donald Trump finally declared on Sunday, April 13, that customs duties on semiconductors imported into the United States would indeed be announced soon. Translation: Smartphones and all other consumer electronics imported into the United States from China will indeed be subject to customs duties, reports the Financial Times, Sunday, April 13.
"Nobody is 'off the hook' for the unfair trade balances and non-monetary tariff barriers that other countries have used against us, least of all China, which treats us the worst by far!," the president declared aboard Air Force One, as he returned to Washington from his West Palm Beach estate.
The relief of American tech will therefore have been short-lived
This statement The White House tenant's announcement directly contradicts the US administration's decision to exempt the entire new technology sector from tariffs, announced two days earlier. On Friday, April 11, it was announced that phones, chip manufacturing equipment, and some computers, many of which are made in China, were exempt from Donald Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs.
The decision was greeted with a sigh of relief by major US digital companies like Apple, Nvidia, and Microsoft. The relief was short-lived. On Sunday, the president reversed this exemption, warning that these products would be re-examined as part of a government investigation into semiconductors. This sector is subject to other customs duties.
Yes, Apple iPhones will be taxed
“What (Donald Trump) is doing is saying that they (electronic devices, smartphones, editor’s note) are exempt from reciprocal customs duties,” declared US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnic. “But they are included in the customs duties on semiconductors, which will be applied in a month or two,” he added.
Surprised by this about-face, journalists asked for confirmation that the customs duties on Apple iPhones could therefore “come back in a month or two.” The US politician’s response: “That’s correct. That’s correct.” We need our medicines, our semiconductors, and our electronics made in America."
Later Sunday, Donald Trump returned to this point, this time on social media. He said that Washington would "look at semiconductors and the ENTIRE electronics supply chain as part of the upcoming national security tariff investigations." The only hope for these companies: Donald Trump added that "there would be some flexibility for certain companies in the sector," reports Reuters.
For the economic sector, a roller coaster
Last week, Donald Trump announced additional customs duties of 145% that would now apply to Chinese products imported into the United States. The taxes imposed on Beijing include a "reciprocal" customs duty of 125%, and a separate customs duty of 20% on all imports.
China is not the only country to have been subjected to new customs duties. Much of the rest of the world was hit with steep tariffs, surcharges that were eventually suspended, lowered, or eliminated—for Europe, those tariffs are currently suspended for 90 days.
For the business sector, this roller coaster “is creating massive uncertainty and chaos for companies trying to plan their supply chain, inventories, and demand,” said Daniel Ives, global head of technology research at Wedbush Securities, in an interview with the Financial Times.
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