The U.S. technology sector could still face new tariffs, despite recent exemptions, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick warned on Sunday.
Late Friday, the Trump administration announced that certain technology products—namely laptops and smartphones—would be temporarily exempt from new tariffs imposed earlier this month. Though President Trump has deferred many of these tariff measures, a baseline tariff of 10% remains in effect, with an additional punitive levy of 125% on certain Chinese imports.
However, Secretary Lutnick clarified in an interview on ABC’s “This Week” that these exemptions would be short-lived. He stated explicitly that while current exemptions remove consumer electronics from immediate reciprocal tariffs, they will likely fall under separate semiconductor-related tariffs scheduled to roll out within the next month or two.
“All these products are going to be impacted by upcoming semiconductor tariffs,” Lutnick explained. He emphasized that the goal of these specialized tariffs is to incentivize domestic manufacturing. “We need semiconductors, chips, and flat-panel displays—we need these items manufactured here in America,” Lutnick said.
Asked about potential price increases from these tariffs, Lutnick dismissed the concerns, reiterating that the administration’s objective is to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. Others have challenged Lutnick’s assurances, labeling any expectation of mass-scale domestic production of electronics as unrealistic.
President Trump himself commented briefly when asked about the expected tariffs on semiconductor imports over the weekend, telling reporters, “I’ll give you that answer Monday.”
