According to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, the tech industry may not be safe from new tariffs.
The Trump administration announced Friday evening that home appliances such as laptops and smartphones will be exempt from tariffs announced earlier this month. (Trump delayed many of these tariffs this week, but he left a baseline tariff of 10% and also imposed a 125% tariff on Chinese products.)
According to the exemption report, high-tech products may be subject to targeted tariffs, with semiconductors subject to specific scrutiny.
Lutnick made it more clear Sunday morning in an interview with the ABC show “This Week,” saying Trump has “exempts from mutual tariffs” but includes them in “semiconductor tariffs that will likely come in a month or two.”
“All of these products will come under the semiconductors. They will have special focus type duties so that those products will be recharged,” says Lutnick. “We need semiconductors, we need chips, we need flat panels. We need to make these things in the US.”
Lutonic pushed on whether tariffs mean higher prices for American consumers, saying, “I don’t think so,” and once again emphasized, “I think it’s the idea that we can manufacture in America.” (Others said Rutnik’s vision: “An army of millions of people screwed into small screws to make iPhones, that’s what’s going to come to America.”
When asked about semiconductor tariffs this weekend, Trump himself said, “I’ll give that answer on Monday.”
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