US tariff on semiconductor imports to be announced this week, says Trump
Published: 16:51 14 Apr 2025 AEST
The White House will confirm the precise US tariff policy on semiconductors in the next few days, after news of an exemption for smartphones and computers boosted markets at the end of last week.
Donald Trump said in a post on his social media on Sunday that "there was no tariff 'exception' announced on Friday", just that electronics products were moved from one tariff "bucket" to another.
The US President also said he would announce the tariff rate on imported semiconductors over the next week, he told the media on Air Force One yesterday.
He added that there would be flexibility on some companies in the sector, according to Reuters, which was part of the press pack flying with the president back to Washington from Florida.
Trump said in the post on his social media platform yesterday that electronic goods from China "remain subject to the existing 20% fentanyl tariffs and they are just moving to a different tariff 'bucket'."
He added that the White House is "taking a look at semiconductors and the whole electronics supply chain in the upcoming national security tariff investigations. What has been exposed is that we need to make products in the United States, and that we will not be held hostage by other countries".
Smartphones and computers make up about 12% of all US imports and about 20% of US imports from China.
US officials also played down this exemption, with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick saying that it was temporary and that the goods would be covered by a forthcoming levy on semiconductors.
Earlier in the weekend, China's commerce ministry said the electronics exclusion was a "small step by the US toward correcting its wrongful action of unilateral ‘reciprocal tariffs’".
