Trump Administration Backpedals on Smartphone Tariff Exemptions

• On Friday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a notice exempting many electronics from the highest tariffs.
• Smartphones, laptops, hard drives, flat-screen displays, and most semiconductors are included in the exemption.
• However, Donald Trump has suggested that looming sectoral tariffs will target the electronics supply chain.

After Donald Trump exempted smartphones and laptops from the highest tariffs imposed on imported goods, electronics manufacturers breathed a collective sigh of relief.

However, within days of announcing the exemption, the administration has signaled that any relief is temporary.

Smartphones in the U.S.–China Trade War

While Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs were initially applied to a broad range of electronics, on Friday, April 11, U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued an exemption for smartphones, laptops, hard drives, flat-screen displays and most semiconductors.

For now, these categories of goods are excluded from both baseline import duties and the so-called reciprocal tariffs applied to goods from China.

The U-turn offered significant relief for Apple, which assembles around 90% of iPhones in China and could face taxes of up to 145% when importing to the U.S.

Samsung, which makes most of its smartphones in India and Vietnam, would face tariffs of up to 46%.

Trump’s decision to suspend tariffs on electronics seems to recognize the unavoidable impact they would have on consumers, who face the prospect of $2,000+ iPhones under the full tariff regime.

But the exemption may be short-lived.

Trump Says China Not ‘Off the Hook’

In a Truth Social post late on Sunday, Trump rejected the characterization of Friday’s announcement as an exemption. Nobody is getting “off the hook,” he stated, “especially not China.”

He emphasized that smartphones and other electronics are still subject to the existing 20% “fentanyl tariffs” imposed on Chinese imports, they are just moving to a different Tariff “bucket.”

Semiconductor Tariffs Looming

In his Truth Social post, Trump held open the possibility that more tariffs could be on the horizon.

Specifically, he promised to launch a national security trade investigation into the “whole electronics supply chain,” with a special focus on semiconductors.

Elaborating on ABC News , Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick  suggested specific “sectoral tariffs” for the semiconductor industry “are coming.”

Electronics will fall under “a special, focused type of tariffs,” he said, “to make sure that those type of products get re-shored.”