Trump signals new rates on chips and calls exclusions temporarily

President Trump indicated on Sunday that he would follow new rates for the powerful computer chips in smartphones and other technologies, only two days after his administration excluded from a variety of electronics Of the steep import taxes that have recently been applied to goods arriving from China.

The Push then came to Mr Trump’s highest economic advisers to explain their shifting strategy after they had insisted for weeks that they would not protect a company or industry against one of the costs they have levied in an attempt to reset American trade relationships.

The postponement for technology companies arrived in the form of a customs and border protection rule that was published at the end of Friday that Save Hightech Import from Mr. Trump’s so-called mutual rates, including those in China. While the president pauses a series of punitive taxes Almost 60 countries Last week his administration made a new tax of 145 percent on Chinese export and announced it after Beijing had taken revenge against the United States.

The exclusions in the BP rule include a wide range of products such as computers, smartphones, modems and flash drives, and it represented a great victory for Apple and other American technological giants, which depend on Chinese factories to help produce important components and popular devices. In recent days, Apple managers had even had contact with Trump officials about Chinese rates, according to two people with knowledge of the company’s efforts. The company refused to comment.

But on Sundays, Mr Trump and his top employees throw the exemptions in a different light, so that they are informed as just a temporary break, while the government prepares more focused import tax on important technologies. The administration is expected to take the first step to perform the new rates as soon as next week, opening a study to determine the effects of semiconductor import on national security.

The approach seems to reflect the process that has yielded Mr. Trump’s rates On other specific products and sectors, including the high costs that he has imposed on foreign cars and car parts this year. On social media, the President indicated on Sunday that the scope of his next study would be broad, “take a look at semiconductors and the entire electronics -supply chain in the upcoming national security rate surveys.”

“Nobody gets ‘out of hook’ for the unfair trade balance, and not -monetary rate barriers, which other countries have used against us, especially not China, which treats us by far the worst!” Mr. Trump added.

Howard Lutnick, the secretary of the trade, said earlier on ABC’s “this week” earlier on Sunday that Mr Trump could announce new rates “in the coming month or two” that not only focus on semiconductors, but also pharmaceutical imports, a different priority for administration.

Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council of the White House, told CNN’s “State of the Union” that it was “always the case” that some of this high-tech input would have been subject to their own rates, separated from those generally imposed on countries in response to their commercial practices.

“Half -conductors are an important part of many defense equipment,” Mr. Hassett added, “I don’t think something really should be a surprise.”

And Jamieson Greer, the American trade representative, described the move to CBS’s ‘Face the Nation’ as a mechanical change, which about semiconductors say that it is not that they are not subject to rates, but that they are being done under another regime.

The Trump administration had already excluded different types of semiconductors from mutual rates from 2 April. But the chaotic changes in rates and exclusions in recent days are related companies that depend on the trade with China. Some investors and chief executives publicly praised the decision to decline rates on electronics, which represent about a quarter of American imports from China.

“The willingness to adjust a strategy based on new facts and data is a sign of the power of a leader,” wrote Bill Ackman, the Chief Executive of the Hedgefonds Pershing Square, on social media. “It’s not an indication of weakness.”

Yet there seems to be Not a quick end to the trade conflict with China insight. And the potential for new rates on chips threatened to throw another pall about the technical industry, even as large lobby groups that represent Intel, Nvidia and other companies have encouraged Trump administration to conclude trade agreements that ultimately lower the trade barriers worldwide.

Asked about the possibility of upcoming rates on chips on Saturday, Mr. Trump said: “I will give you that answer on Monday.”

“We will be very specific,” he added. “But we withdraw a lot of money. As a country we take a lot of money.”

Dan Ives, an analyst for Wedbush Securities, said in a note to investors on Sunday that “the massive confusion created by this constant news flow from the White House is dizzy for industry and investors and create enormous uncertainty and chaos for companies trying to plan their supply chain and question.”

Ultimately, new taxes on Chip -Import can make it more expensive for American companies to produce smartphones and other devices, lower their profit or forcing them to increase prices for American consumers. Especially for Apple, the tit for Tat between the United States and China made sure that the technology giant lost More than $ 770 billion in market capitalization in just the opening days of Mr Trump’s trade war.

Since then, the two countries have taken revenge against each other, making financial markets all over the world in the light of a persistent and expensive impasse. American consumers even seemed to hurry last week to buy new iPhonesAnticipate that a long -term trade conflict could increase prices.