US says tech tariff exemptions may be short-lived
WASHINGTON
Recent exemptions to sweeping U.S. import tariffs may be short-lived, top officials said on April 13, with Donald Trump warning that no one was "getting off the hook," and China urging the U.S. to simply abandon its aggressive trade levies policy altogether.
The world's two largest economies have been locked in a fast-moving, high-stakes game of brinkmanship since Trump launched a global tariff assault that particularly targeted Chinese imports.
Tit-for-tat exchanges have seen U.S. levies imposed on China rise to 145 percent, and Beijing setting a retaliatory 125 percent band on U.S. imports.
The U.S. side had appeared to dial down the pressure slightly on April 11, listing tariff exemptions for smartphones, laptops, semiconductors and other electronic products for which China is a major source.
But Trump asserted on April 13 that there was "no Tariff 'exception'" on those products, saying they remained subject to a 20 percent rate in "a different Tariff 'bucket.'"
In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said "Nobody is getting off the hook," adding: "We will not be held hostage by other countries, especially hostile trading Nations like China."
Earlier, Beijing's Commerce Ministry had said the April 11 move only "represents a small step" and insisted that the Trump administration should "completely cancel" the whole tariff strategy.
The new exemptions will benefit U.S. tech companies like Nvidia and Dell as well as Apple, which makes iPhones and other premium products in China.
The relief could, however, be short-lived with some of the exempted consumer electronics targeted for upcoming sector-specific tariffs on goods deemed key to U.S. national defense networks.
