Exempting iPhones "for now," new semiconductor tariffs are on the horizon.

Just as the U.S. government announced an exemption from reciprocal tariffs for smartphones, computers, and other electronic products, which was interpreted by the outside world as giving the semiconductor industry a breather, White House officials revealed that the United States is considering special tariff measures. On Saturday, U.S. President Trump said he would provide more information on Monday, the 14th.

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday that he would provide more information on semiconductor tariffs on Monday. He said, "I will give you answers on Monday... We will be very precise. This is a lot of money, and as a country, we will receive a lot of it."

However,值得注意的是, Reuters cited White House officials as saying that Trump will soon launch a national security trade investigation into semiconductors, potentially leading to new tariffs.

According to earlier reports by Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, and other media outlets, an unnamed official said that Trump would request a study under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act (Section 232) to impose tariffs on semiconductors. This provision authorizes Trump to investigate and tax imports when they threaten national security. Trump has already invoked Section 232 to impose 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum and cars.

The Wall Street Journal emphasized that if the results of the Section 232 study determine that tariffs must be levied on imported semiconductors, the recently announced tariff exemptions will ultimately face the tariff calamity. According to informed sources who spoke to The Wall Street Journal, U.S. Commerce Secretary Raimond told some senior executives in the computer industry that these consumer electronics will be included in the upcoming semiconductor tariff measures.

The unnamed White House official also said that, in addition to chips, cars, steel, pharmaceuticals, and other special materials will be included in the special tariff items to ensure fair and effective implementation of the tariffs.

In addition, White House spokesperson Leavitt said in a statement on Saturday that Trump made it clear that the United States cannot rely on Chinese-made semiconductors, chips, smartphones, laptops, and other key technology products. She stated that while temporarily exempting these products from tariffs, Trump ensured Apple's and NVIDIA's multi-trillion-dollar investment projects in the United States. Leavitt said, "Under the president's direction, these companies are accelerating the relocation of manufacturing to the United States."

At the same time, Trump's latest exemption policy has drawn criticism. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy believes this exemption is a "reward for big businesses like Apple because they have donated large sums of political contributions to Trump."

According to Capital Economics' North American Chief Economist Paul Ashworth, this exemption marks a cooling down of Trump's trade war with China. As far as he knows, these 20 exempted product categories account for nearly a quarter of total U.S. imports from China, covering 64% of U.S. imports from Taiwan, 44% from Malaysia, and nearly one-third of imports from Vietnam and Thailand.

Source: rfi

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