United States Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick stated on Sunday that smartphones, computers, other electronic products and semiconductors will be subject to separate sector-based tariffs.
In an interview with ABC’s “This Week,” Lutnick also said that the tariffs would be imposed in approximately a month and that pharmaceutical tariffs would be imposed within the next month.
Also Read: Smartphones to laptops: Full list of items exempted from Trump’s tariffs
“We can’t be relying on China for fundamental things that we need: our medicines and our semiconductors need to be built in America,” added Lutnick.
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He also clarified that their exemption from the reciprocal tariffs was temporary and that President Trump would implement “a tariff model in order to encourage” the semiconductor and pharmaceutical industry to move their business to the US.
Trump’s tariff exemptions
This announcement comes after Donald Trump’s administration on Friday excluded some electronic products and semiconductors from retaliatory tariffs.
Also Read: China urges US to ‘completely cancel’ Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs
The exemption included Chinese electronic imports as well, which had been slapped with a 145 per cent tariff in total.
According to a US Customs and Border Protection bulletin, smartphones, computers, solar cells, flat-panel TV displays and semiconductor-based storage devices, among others, would be excluded from the duties imposed by Trump on April 2.
The reprieve from the tariffs was welcome news for companies like Apple, Samsung and chip maker Nvidia, who reported major losses in market value when the reciprocal duties were announced.
Apple lost over $640 billion in market value, CNBC reported. The cost of an iPhone could have surged to as high as $3,500 under some estimates, the report added.
In light of the exemption, China’s commerce secretary on Sunday, called for Trump to “completely cancel” the tariffs and correct his approach to them.
