In a series of interviews Sunday, top aides to President Donald Trump stressed that the tariff exclusions placed on chips that power smartphones, computers, and other electronics are temporary and could be subject to their own set of duties in the future, The New York Times reported.
In a notice late 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 the broad 8471 code for all computers, laptops, disc drives, and automatic data processing. It also included semiconductor devices, equipment, memory chips, and flat panel displays.
On Sunday, however, senior White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told NBC’s “Meet the Press” they were “not exclusions,” adding that the Trump administration could still impose tariffs on computer chips, according to the report.
Likewise, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told ABC on Sunday that Trump could announce new tariffs on semiconductors “in the next month or two.”
The assertions made by Navarro and Lutnick came the same day that China reacted to the exemptions, calling them a “small step by U.S. to correct its wrong practice of unilateral ‘reciprocal tariffs.'” Trump on Wednesday increased tariffs on Chinese imports effectively to 145%.
Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that it was “always the case” that chips could be subject to their own tariffs, the Times reported.
“Semiconductors are a key important part of a lot of defense equipment,” Hassett said. “I don’t think anything really should be a surprise.”
When asked Saturday about the reasoning behind the exemptions on semiconductors, Trump said, “I’ll give you that answer on Monday.
“We’ll be very specific on Monday…we’re taking in a lot of money, as a country, we’re taking in a lot of money,” he added.
Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said in a note to investors Sunday that “the mass confusion created by this constant news flow out of the White House is dizzying for the industry and investors and creating massive uncertainty and chaos for companies trying to plan their supply chain, inventory and demand,” the Times reported.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
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