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Late Friday, Trump issued a clarification memo on his 125% “reciprocal” tariff plan but it came with a YUGEE asterisk.
The update: over 20 categories of electronic goods have been temporarily exempted, including semiconductors, smartphones, laptops, SD cards, and TVs. That’s a ~$390 billion chunk of U.S. imports, more than $100 billion of it from China.
Why it matters: it’s a partial breather for U.S. tech firms, many of whom manufacture in China and were staring down crushing duties. Apple, for one, had reportedly chartered 600 tons of iPhones in a panic shipment last week.
But don’t get too comfortable. These goods still face:
- A 10% blanket tariff on all imports to the U.S.
- A 20% China-specific tariff that predates the latest round
And soon, a separate semiconductor tariff, expected within a couple of months.
The nuance: “This isn’t a free pass,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick clarified on ABC’s This Week. “These are national security exemptions—we want this stuff made in America.”
Even Beijing nodded at the move, calling it a “small step toward correcting wrongful unilateral action.” But so far, there’s been zero formal engagement between Washington and Chinese officials.
Zoom out: tech may have caught a break, but the tariff chessboard is still live. And the big hit—the semiconductor tariff—is just a few moves away.
