Commerce Secretary Lutnick: Tariff Tech ‘Exemptions’ Are Not Permanent

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Sunday that the previously-announced tech exemptions to President Donald Trump’s sweeping “Liberation Day” tariff plan were not permanent.

Lutnick spoke with “This Week” host Jon Karl on ABC News about the Friday reports announcing the exemption of approximately 20 electronic products — including smartphones, chips, and several components needed to make flat screens or tablets — from the additional reciprocal tariffs the Trump administration has levied against China. They are still subject to a 20% tariff, and Lutnick said on Sunday that they would not be exempt from additional tariffs for long.

WATCH:

After Pres. Trump exempts tech like phones, computers and chips from new tariffs, Commerce Sec. Howard Lutnick tells @JonKarl they will be included in semiconductor tariffs to be released in coming months.

“This is not a permanent sort of exemption.” https://t.co/p9xXrT2Xvx pic.twitter.com/RoVH72kfM1

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) April 13, 2025

Lutnick explained that several items the Trump administration has deemed necessary for national security reasons — things like medications, semiconductors, and automobiles — would be subject to “sector tariffs” rather than tariffs specific to one country or another.

“We need to make medicine in this country, we learned it during COVID, we need to make it in this country,” Lutnick said. “We need to make semiconductors in this country, because if we don’t own semiconductors here, remember, all — virtually all semiconductors are made now in Taiwan and they’re finished in China, it’s important that we reshore them.”

Lutnick went on to add that for those national-security related items, Trump planned to introduce a new policy that would cover them “outside the reciprocal tariffs, and they’re going to have their own separate way of being considered.”

Trump Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller gave a very similar update during his appearance with host Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”

WATCH:

Deputy Chief of Staff @StephenM: "When @POTUS issued his reciprocal tariffs, our government at the time specifically said that chips and semiconductors… were going to be dealt with through a separate Commerce authority known as a 232. That was ALWAYS the plan because those… pic.twitter.com/79zDt9gydJ

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 13, 2025

“When the president issued his reciprocal tariffs, our government at the time specifically said that chips and semiconductors, which are critical components of our national security, were going to be dealt with through a separate Commerce authority known as a 232. That was ALWAYS the plan because those components are so essential to our national security, we need to have a separate process for dealing with how to reshore those essential industries,” Miller said.