Confused?
Investors and industry officials spent the weekend twisting and turning . First, nearly all tariffs on electronics were lifted late Friday.
Then on Sunday, a Truth Social post by President Trump announced “Semiconductors and the WHOLE ELECTRONICS SUPPLY CHAIN” are part of upcoming National Security Tariff Investigations. White House officials have said these investigations could lead to new tariffs.
Also on a Sunday, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on ABC’s “This Week” said smartphones, computers and some other electronics, just exempted from the steep 125% reciprocal tariffs on imports from China, would face a new “special focus-type of tariff” along with semiconductors and pharmaceuticals in the next two months.
“Trump is saying [electronics] are exempt from the reciprocal tariffs, but they’re included in the semiconductor tariffs, which are coming in probably a month or two,” Lutnick said on the ABC interview.
Before Trump’s social post on Sunday, a White House official had indicated a new national security trade investigation into semiconductors soon could lead to other new tariffs, according to Reuters.
Trump told reporters on Saturday that he would explain his reasoning on exemptions and plans for semiconductors on Monday.
Trump’s Truth Social post indicated that the Friday exemptions, contained in guidance by Customs and Border Protection, did not apply to a 20% fentanyl tariff, which Fierce Electronics and other media outlets had reported on Saturday.
“NOBODY is getting ‘off the hook’ for the unfair Trade Balances and Non Monetary Tariff Barriers, that other Countries have used against us, especially not China, which by far treats us the worst,” Trump said on Truth Social.
Politico had reported on Saturday that the national security trade investigation will be launched under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion act of 1962.
While the weekend might have seemed confusing to investors and industry officials, they said in anonymous comments to Fierce Electronics that it is pretty evident a Section 232 investigation will happen and semiconductors will still get some kind of tariff soon, either separate from the investigation or because of the investigation. Friday’s exemptions from reciprocal tariffs might or might not remain in place. President Trump’s comments on Monday should hopefully shed more light on the subject, industry officials said.
Several analysts described recent actions on tariffs as coming from Trump's negotiating style as he described in his 1987 book, "The Art of the Deal." One tenant of the book is that creating uncertainty about his next move can increase his leverage.
"At this point, chaos appears to be the strategy to keep everyone on their toes and off balance," lead industry analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy told Fierce Electronics. "This is all I can come up with as each day the administration and the president continue to say things that are inconsistent with what had been said prior."