US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick has warned that smartphones and other consumer electronics imported to America from China will still face tariffs, dealing a blow to hopes of a reprieve for Big Tech companies such as Apple, Nvidia and Microsoft, Financial Times reported.

Donald Trump’s administration this weekend excluded phones, chipmaking equipment and certain computers from steep “reciprocal” tariffs in what was a significant boost for tech groups whose stocks plunged after the president unleashed a global trade war on “liberation day.”

But speaking on ABC news This Week on Sunday, Lutnick said such products would be re-examined as part of a government probe into semiconductors, which face a separate round of tariffs. 

“What he’s doing is he’s saying they’re exempt from the reciprocal tariffs,” Lutnick said, referring to Trump. “But they’re included in the semiconductor tariffs, which are coming in probably a month or two.”

China’s Ministry of Commerce said it was a “small step for the US to correct its wrongful unilateral reciprocal tariffs”, but that it was “evaluating the relevant impact.”

ABC News reported: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday that the administration’s decision Friday night to exempt a range of electronic device from tariffs implemented earlier this month was only a temporary reprieve, with the secretary announcing that those items would be subject to “semiconductor tariffs” that will likely come in “a month or two.”

“All those products are going to come under the semiconductors, and they’re going to have a special focus type of tariff to make sure those products get reshored. We need to have semiconductors, we need to have chips, we need to have flat panels – we need to have these things made in America. We can’t be reliant on Southeast Asia for all of the things that operation for us.” Lutnick told “The Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl.

The administration’s clarification comes after a U.S. Customs and Border Protection bulletin was posted Friday night outlining key electronics — smartphones, computers, solar cells, flat-panel TV displays and semiconductor-based storage devices, among others — would be exempt from the tariffs announced since April 2.

That means those products would not be subject to steep tariffs on Chinese imports, nor the global 10% tariff rate President Donald Trump had imposed.

TechCrunch reported: The tech industry may not be safe from new tariffs, according to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

The Trump administration announced Friday evening that consumer electronics such as laptops and smartphones would be exempt from the tariffs it unveiled earlier this month.

Pressed on whether tariffs will mean higher prices for American consumers, Lutnik said, “I don’t think so,” and again emphasized, “I think the idea is that we can manufacture in America.” Others have said that Lutnick’s vision that “the army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in little screws to make iPhones, that kind of thing is going to come to America,” is a fantasy.

President Donald Trump exempted smartphones, computers, and other tech devices and components from his reciprocal tariffs, new guidance from U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows, CNBC reported.

The guidance, issued late Friday evening, comes after Trump earlier this month imposed 145% tariffs on products from China, a move that threatened to take a toll on tech giants like Apple, which makes iPhones and most of its other products in China.

The guidance also includes exclusions for other electronic devices and components, including semiconductors, solar cells, flat panel TV displays, flash drives, and memory cards.

The White House said on Saturday the exemptions were made because Trump wants to ensure that companies have time to move production to the U.S.

White House deputy press secretary Kush Desai said in a statement that Trump “has made it clear Americans cannot rely on China to manufacture critical technologies such as semiconductors, chips, smartphones, and laptops.”

The 20 product categories listed in the CBP guidelines are apparently exempt from the 125% tariff imposted by Trump on Chinese imports and the 10% baseline tariff on imports from other countries. A 20% tariff on all Chinese goods remains in effect.

BBC reported: US President Trump’s administration has exempted smartphones, computers and some other electronic devices from “reciprocal” tariffs, including the 125% levies imposed on Chinese imports.

US Customs and Border Patrol published a notice late Friday explaining the goods would be excluded from Trump’s 10% global tariff on most countries and the much lager Chinese import tax. 

The move comes after concerns from US tech companies that the price of gadgets could skyrocket, as many of them are made in China.

This is the first significant reprieve of any kind in Trump’s tariffs on China, with one trade analysts describing it as a “game changer scenario.”

The exemptions – backdated to 5 April – also include other electronic devices and components, including semiconductors, solar cells and memory cards.

Gizmodo reported: Donald Trump’s staff regime keeps getting less and less robust.

In the latest backtrack from the administration following the repeated warning of the markets to chip out a bit, the US Customs and Border Protection published guidance late Friday night that introduced a new exemption for smartphones, computers, and other electronics – a major carveout for tech companies that were feeling the crunch.

The exemptions, as reported by Bloomberg, include popular devices like iPhones and MacBooks, as well as Android and Windows devices made overseas. It also includes hardware like hard drives, computer processors, memory chips, and graphics cards. 

Some have noted that the exemption does not include video game consoles, which leaves things still pretty up in the air for the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2.