“This is not a permanent exemption. (The President) is just making it clear that these cannot be negotiated by the state,” he said.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on April 13 that some electronic devices, including smartphones and computers, fall under separate tariff plans, including semiconductors, announced in about a month.
Lutnick told ABC’s Jonathan Karl that Trump’s announcement on April 11th exempts these items from mutual tariffs only.
“But they’re included in semiconductor tariffs coming in probably a month or two,” Lutnick said.
Speaking to NBC’s “Meet the Press” on April 13, Peter Navarro, senior White House counselor and trade advisor, said tariffs will be determined through a chip supply chain investigation launched under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.
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This law allows the president to restrict imports that are deemed a threat to national security. The copper and timber industry has already seen Trump’s investigation of Section 232 over the past two months, and the president used the results of one 232 investigation from his first term in March to defend the rise in tariffs on aluminum and steel.
After Trump announced in early April on a universal 10% tariff on all US trading partners, global and domestic stock markets have been subject to turbulence, along with separate mutual tariffs on some people. The president then suspended almost all tariffs for 90 days after declaring he was intermediary in trade transactions with numerous partners, while increasing tariffs on Chinese imports to 145%.
After the S&P 500 was first removed in the April 2 tariff plan, the index rose on April 9th at 9.5% (the best single gain day since October 2008), after Trump announced a 90-day suspension on most tariffs. However, the index was still 11.2% below its recent high in February.
While many of the president’s tariffs are open to negotiations, Lutnick emphasized that semiconductor-based technology products were exempted on April 11th.
“So this is not a permanent exemption,” he said. “(Trump) is just making it clear that these cannot be negotiated by the country.”
Lutnick said tariffs on semiconductors and drugs are necessary to encourage production reuse back in the US.
“We need medicines and we need to build semiconductors and electronics in America,” he said.
“We cannot rely on foreign countries for the basics that we need, and we cannot rely on the basics that we need.”
Biden cited the need to reduce US reliance on China to source semiconductors essential for a wide range of household appliances while supporting US employment.
Lutnick reflected these concerns on April 13th.
“We need semiconductors. We need chips, we need flat panels. We need these things in the US. We can’t rely on Southeast Asia for everything that works for us,” he said. “Perfectly all semiconductors are currently made in Taiwan and completed in China.”
Carl said it’s unlikely that Apple will open “Tomorrow to build an iPhone tomorrow” in the US, but asked Lutnick if the new tariffs would lead to higher prices as some companies such as Autozone and Amazon have already shown them publicly.
“I’m not necessarily the case, the idea that it can be manufactured here in the US added that Panasonic has just finished building a new factory in Kansas.
“They did business with nearby community colleges and all local communities,” he said. “They trained people for this, 4,000 high-tech jobs in Kansas.
“That’s what’s going back to America. … Such a tech factor will create things here at a very reasonable price.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who spoke with Carl after Lutnick, said he hopes Congress can approve or block tariffs imposed by the president.
“All Democrats are ready to push back or take the power he is currently utilising,” she said. “The question is whether Republicans will join this. The vote will take place in about 15 days.”
Naveen Athrapplely contributed to this report.
