Trump Commerce chief says ‘not like a permanent sort of exemption’ for phones, computers

President Donald Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested Sunday that the reciprocal tariff exemptions for some electronics may be short-lived, and said separate tariffs for these products are “coming soon.”

“They’re exempt from the reciprocal tariffs, but they’re included in the semiconductor tariffs, which are coming in probably a month or two,” Lutnick said Sunday on ABC News’ This Week.

Lutnick’s comments throw cold water on hopes that popular tech products made in China, such as computers, laptops, smartphones, and flat-panel TVs, would be spared from Trump’s 145% reciprocal tariffs — duties that raise prices for U.S. importers and are generally passed on to consumers.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection late Friday evening announced exemptions for smartphones, computers, and other tech devices and components from his reciprocal tariffs.

Lutnick on Sunday emphasized that the U.S. “can’t be beholden and rely upon foreign countries for fundamental things that we need.”

“So this is not like a permanent sort of exemption. [Trump’s] just clarifying that these are not available to be negotiated away by countries,” he said Sunday.

Lutnick added: “These are things that are national security that we need to be made in America.”

The reciprocal tariff exemptions had brought a sigh of relief, at least for now, for tech companies, including Apple, which manufactures many of its products in China.

But Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey said the confusion sowed by the Trump administration’s reversal late Friday on reciprocal tariffs on some electronics from China — and his sudden call on Wednesday for a 90-day pause in enforcing new tariffs on other countries — is harmful to the U.S.

“President Trump now has a crisis in credibility,” he said in an interview Sunday on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” “We’re hearing from around the world. People just don’t know if they can trust him.”