Trump allies say tariffs on smartphones could return in two months
Connor Stringer
5 min read
Donald Trump’s grand-daughter Kai Madison Trump speaks to the media on board Air Force One - Nathan Howard/Reuters
Donald Trump’s trade war with China was thrown into more chaos as allies claimed tariffs on smartphones could return within two months, even as others demanded a complete pause.
Mr Trump quietly withdrew levies on smartphones on Friday, only for his commerce secretary to say on Sunday that they would be included in a separate package of levies in a “month or two”.
The confusion comes as top donor Bill Ackman, a hedge-fund boss and one-time supporter of Mr Trump, called for a 90-day pause to the 145 per cent levies, warning that firms were unable to adapt quickly enough.
China meanwhile on Sunday piled on further pressure, urging the White House to “completely cancel” the reciprocal tariffs
Mr Ackman, a prominent financier who was the first to turn on the president’s tariff plan, said a pause would give the president more time to negotiate with China.
“The problem is that there remain millions of small- and medium-size US businesses that suffer from an inability to adapt to the tariffs on China overnight,” Mr Ackman said.
“If president Trump were to pause the China tariffs for 90 days and reduce them temporarily to 10 per cent, he would achieve the same objective in causing US businesses to relocate their supply chains from China without the disruption and risk to these businesses in the short term, and he would have time to negotiate a deal with China.”
Mr Ackman leads top New York hedge fund Pershing Square. He endorsed Mr Trump for president in last year’s election but denied he did so to win a job in the new administration.
He previously said the tariffs were a “mistake” and called for a 90-day “time-out” to allow more time to negotiate.
“China is under the same pressure to negotiate a deal whether the tariffs take effect immediately or if they take effect in 90 days,” he added.
“The benefit of waiting 90 days is two-fold. It gives all US businesses the opportunity to make supply-chain adjustments, and it gives China the opportunity to show that it is willing to negotiate a trade deal in good faith.”
The world’s two largest economies have been engaged in a tit-for-tat tariff war since Mr Trump announced sweeping global tariffs.
Retaliatory Chinese import tariffs of 125 per cent on US goods took effect on Saturday, with Beijing standing defiant against its biggest trade partner.
But after his tariffs sent global markets into a tailspin, Mr Trump appeared to blink first, announcing a 90-day delay for most countries.
In yet another concession, the US Customs and Border Protection quietly announced on Friday an exemption to smartphones from the steep tariffs imposed on China.
Beijing’s commerce ministry on Sunday called the exemptions a “small step” by Washington and said that China was “evaluating the impact” of the decision.
“We urge the US to... take a big step to correct its mistakes, completely cancel the wrong practice of ‘reciprocal tariffs’ and return to the right path of mutual respect,” a commerce ministry spokesman said in a statement.
Howard Lutnick, US commerce secretary, said on Sunday in an interview with ABC’s This Week that smartphones, computers and some other electronics will come under separate tariffs, along with semiconductors, that may be imposed in a month or so.
Mr Lutnick appeared to have sparked panic on Wall Street, with one executive with ties to the White House suggesting his comments were “off-message”.
“Now the market will open way down again since it appears the administration is totally confused. Susie [Wiles, chief of staff] needs to get control of Lutnick. He is a wrecking ball,” the source told Fox Business.
Mr Trump’s latest exemptions cover almost $390 billion in US imports based on official US 2024 trade statistics, including more than $101 billion from China, according to data compiled by Gerard DiPippo, associate director of the Rand China Research Center.
‘Open to talks’
On Monday, Xi Jinping, Chinese president, kicks off a five-day Southeast Asian tour for talks with the leaders of Vietnam, a manufacturing powerhouse, as well as Malaysia and Cambodia.
It comes after Xi said China and Europe should “jointly resist unilateral bullying practices”.
China has repeatedly said it remains open to talks with the US.
The White House says Mr Trump remains “optimistic” about securing a deal with China, although administration officials have made it clear they expect Beijing to reach out first.
Jamieson Greer, US trade representative, said there were “no plans” for Mr Trump and Xi to speak.
“Right now we don’t have any plans on that. This issue is truly at the leaders’ level,” he told CBS.
Meanwhile, Peter Navarro, White House trade adviser, brushed off insults from Elon Musk on Sunday, saying “Elon and I are great” after a public spat over Mr Trump’s tariffs.
Mr Musk, the billionaire Tesla chief executive and close ally of Mr Trump, earlier this month called Mr Navarro a “moron” after the trade adviser dismissed Mr Musk’s push for “zero tariffs” between the US and Europe.
Mr Navarro had called Mr Musk a “car assembler” reliant on imported auto parts.
‘I’ve been called worse’
Asked about the tension on NBC’s Meet the Press, Mr Navarro said: “It’s not an issue.”
“Even though he called you a ‘moron’ and ‘dumber than a sack of bricks?’” the NBC anchor pressed.
“I’ve been called worse,” Mr Navarro replied.
“Everything’s fine with Elon. And look, Elon is doing a very good job with his team with waste, fraud and abuse,” he said.
“That’s a tremendous contribution to America, and no man doing that kind of thing should be subject to having his cars firebombed by crazies,” referring to the vandalism against Tesla infrastructures and offices in response to Mr Musk’s Right-wing activism.
Meanwhile, wild swings in global markets are poised to keep US stock investors on edge in the coming week.
The S&P 500 was set for solid gains on the week after Mr Trump pulled back on the heftiest tariffs on many countries, relieving Wall Street’s worst-case scenario.
The benchmark index was still down about 13 per cent from its Feb 19 all-time closing high.
