Trump Denies Tariff 'Exception' for Electronics, Promises New Electronics Tariffs Soon

Late Friday news broke that U.S. President Trump's new tariffs included exemptions for smartphones, computer monitors, semiconductors, and other electronics. But Sunday morning America's commerce secretary insisted 'a special-focus type of tariff' was coming for those products, reports ABC News. President Trump 'is saying they're exempt from the reciprocal tariffs,' the commerce secretary told an interviewer, 'but they're included in the semiconductor tariffs, which are coming in probably a month or two.... This is not like a permanent sort of exemption.'

The Wall Street Journal notes that Sunday the president himself posted on social media that 'NOBODY is getting 'off the hook' for the unfair Trade Balances, and Non Monetary Tariff Barriers... There was no Tariff 'exception' announced on Friday. These products are subject to the existing 20% Fentanyl Tariffs, and they are just moving to a different Tariff 'bucket.''

'The administration is expected to take the first step toward enacting the new tariffs as soon as next week,' reports the New York Times, 'opening an investigation to determine the effects of semiconductor imports on national security.'

More from ABC News:

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday that the administration's decision Friday night to exempt a range of electronic devices from tariffs implemented earlier this month was only a temporary reprieve.. Lutnick said on 'This Week' that the White House will implement 'a tariff model in order to encourage' the semiconductor industry, as well as the pharmaceutical industry, to move its business to the United States. 'We can't be beholden and rely upon foreign countries for fundamental things that we need,' he said.... 'These are things that are national security that we need to be made in America.'

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