Smartphone tariffs are coming back in ‘a month or two,’ says Trump admin

Smartphones, laptops, and other products that are exempt from Trump’s April 9th tariffs will be lumped in with duties on semiconductors in “a month or two,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told ABC News anchor Jonathan Karl on This Week. The tariffs on the electronics industry would be announced “over the next week” said President Trump later in the day, indicating that exceptions would be granted “for some products.” On Friday, the Trump administration released updated guidance that excluded smartphones, laptops, and more from Trump’s new tariffs, including the 125 percent additional levy on Chinese-produced goods last week. “This is not like a permanent sort of exemption,” Lutnick told Karl, saying that they will be subject later to “a special focus type of tariff” applied to the semiconductor industry, similar to automotive tariffs Trump has already issued. When asked if the new tariffs will include products like iPhones, many of which are built in China, Lutnick said that’s “correct” and that the goal is to “encourage them to reshore, to be built in America.” ”It’s not like you can open a factory tomorrow to build iPhones,” Karl said, before asking if these coming tariffs will mean higher prices for goods in the US. Lutnick responded: >  I don’t necessarily think so. I think the idea is that we can manufacture here in America. As I said, there’s a — I saw Panasonic, the battery company. Right? A Japanese company. They built an amazing factory in Kansas, which they’re opening now. They were putting it in the ground when Donald Trump was President, just finishing now. Lutnick may be referring to an EV plant Panasonic announced it had broken ground on in November 2022. Panasonic reportedly stands to gain billions in incentives for the plant under the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act, which Trump has threatened to “rescind all unspent funds” from. Later on Sunday Trump said “there was no Tariff ‘exception’ announced, and that officials would be “taking a look at Semiconductors and the WHOLE ELECTRONICS SUPPLY CHAIN in the upcoming National Security Tariff Investigations.” He then told reporters on Air Force One that he would be announcing the tariff rate on imported semiconductors ”over the next week,“ noting that there would be flexibility ”for some products,“ according to Axios, but declined to name them. Update, April 14th: Added Trump’s comments.