The technology sector in the United States may soon face fresh tariff pressures, despite a temporary reprieve granted to a broad range of electronic products last week.
A notice from US Customs and Border Protection confirmed that 20 categories of goods – including smartphones, laptops, semiconductor devices, and data processing equipment – would be exempt from the steep 125% reciprocal tariffs currently targeting Chinese imports, as well as the standard 10% duties applied to other countries.
The exclusions, introduced under the administration of former US President Donald Trump, provided a measure of relief for US technology firms heavily reliant on Chinese manufacturing. Among the exempted items were products falling under tariff code 8471, covering computers, disc drives, laptops, and automatic data processing machines, alongside semiconductor devices, memory chips, flat panel displays, and related electronics.
However, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has recently suggested the reprieve would be short-lived. Speaking during an interview with ABC’s This Week, Lutnick confirmed that while certain products had been temporarily spared from existing tariffs, new semiconductor-focused duties were under consideration and could be introduced within the next two months.
Lutnick stated: “All those products are going to come under semiconductors, and they’re going to have a special focus type of tariff to make sure that those products get reshored. We need to have semiconductors, we need to have chips, and we need to have flat panels – we need to have these things made in America.”
When asked whether these tariffs might result in higher consumer prices, Lutnick replied: “I don’t think so. I think the idea is that we can manufacture in America.”
The proposed measures form part of a wider US initiative to reclaim elements of the electronics and semiconductor supply chain amid ongoing trade tensions with China. President Trump posted on Truth Social following the initial reports, disputing characterisations of the tariff exemptions as permanent.
“There was no Tariff ‘exception’ announced on Friday,” he wrote. “These products are just moving to a different Tariff ‘bucket.’”
Trump also confirmed that forthcoming National Security Tariff Investigations would examine semiconductors and the wider electronics supply chain, hinting at broader policy changes on the horizon.
