U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday bore down on his administration's latest message that the exclusion of smartphones and computers from his reciprocal tariffs on China will be short-lived, pledging a national security trade investigation into the semiconductor sector, Reuters reported.
Those electronics "are just moving to a different Tariff 'bucket,'" Trump said in a social media post. "We are taking a look at Semiconductors and the WHOLE ELECTRONICS SUPPLY CHAIN in the upcoming National Security Tariff Investigations."
The White House had announced the exclusions from steep reciprocal tariffs on Friday.
Trump's commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, earlier on Sunday said that critical technology products from China would face separate new duties along with semiconductors within the next two months.
The exclusions announced on Friday were seen as a big break for technology firms such as Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab and Dell Technologies (DELL.N), opens new tab that rely on imports from China, according to Reuters.
Trump's back-and-forth on tariffs last week triggered the wildest swings on Wall Street since the COVIDpandemic of 2020. The benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index (.SPX), opens new tab is down more than 10% since Trump took office on January 20.
