'Can't rely on China...': US Commerce Secretary says tariffs on electronics, pharma goods from next month

Electronics were spared once — now, they’re back in the crosshairs. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed that electronic products will be included in the Trump administration’s upcoming sector-specific tariffs, with new duties targeting semiconductors on the way. “Electronics products will be part of upcoming sectoral tariffs,” Lutnick told ABC News on April 13, warning that “special tariffs” are “coming soon.”

Speaking on ABC's This Week, Lutnick said the new tariffs would be rolled out in approximately a month, alongside similar action on pharmaceutical goods. 

"We can't be relying on China for fundamental things that we need: our medicines and our semiconductors need to be built in America," he said.

Lutnick noted that previous exemptions for electronic goods were only temporary. President Trump, he added, plans to use a new tariff structure “to encourage” both the semiconductor and pharmaceutical industries to shift their supply chains back to the United States.

The announcement marks a pivot from last week’s decision by US Customs and Border Protection to exclude key electronics — like smartphones and laptops — from the proposed 145% reciprocal tariffs on Chinese imports, Bloomberg reported.

That temporary reprieve was aimed at shielding American consumers from steep price hikes and avoiding additional pressure on inflation, Bloomberg said.

Among the items exempted were smartphones, hard drives, processors, memory chips, and semiconductor manufacturing equipment — most of which are not currently manufactured in the U.S. and would require years to produce domestically.

The move had brought short-term relief to tech giants like Apple, Samsung and Nvidia, which had taken a massive hit following the initial tariff announcement. Apple alone saw over $640 billion wiped off its market cap, CNBC reported, with projections that iPhone prices could soar as high as $3,500.

Meanwhile, Beijing responded on April 13, calling on the Trump administration to scrap the 145% tariff hike and return to “mutual respect.”

“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,” said China’s Commerce Ministry.

China labeled the temporary US exemption on consumer electronics a “small step” toward correcting its broader trade stance.

The back-and-forth has escalated into a punishing tariff standoff — with the US levying a 145% import duty and China retaliating with a 125% hike of its own. Analysts warn that the rising tension is reshaping the global electronics trade, once a symbol of interconnected markets, into something far more fractured.