Donald Trump’s administration appears to have made another concession on their Liberation Day levies by excluding smartphones, laptops and computer chips from its steep “reciprocal” tariffs.
It is the first sign of Trump’s softening stance towards China with the majority of iPhones produced in the country, hit hard by 145 per cent levies.
The announcement late on Friday would also benefit big tech companies such as Apple and Samsung.
The US Customs and Border Protection said items such as smartphones, laptops, machines used to make semiconductors and flat-panel monitors would be exempt.
It came as reports suggested that a breakthrough between UK and the US over tariffs could be reached in the coming days.
With just 90 days for the US to strike more than 90 deals, senior government sources told The Times that conversations over a potential agreement with Mr Trump would be held soon.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves told reporters: “Of course we want to secure the best deal possible for British jobs and British industry. And we are absolutely … resolved to do everything we can.”
UK government to cut tariffs on 89 products in bid to lower costs for businesses and consumers
Sir Keir Starmer’s government has announced it will temporary suspend the UK global tariff on 89 products in order to ease pressure on businesses in the face of Donald Trump’s global levies.
The UK global tariff – which applies to goods entering the UK that do not qualify for preferential treatment under free trade agreements – will be suspended until 2027 on a wide range of products including pasta, fruit juices, agave syrup, plant bulbs, plywood and plastics.
Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “From food to furniture, this will reduce the cost of everyday items for businesses, with savings hopefully passed onto consumers.
“As we face a new era of global trade, this government is going further faster to make Britain the best country to do business, delivering on our Plan for Change. These suspensions are just another example of that.”
Markets ‘trapped by uncertainty’ over tariffs, warns analyst
The stock market remains “very unsettled” as investors weigh how to price in any economic fallout from the changing tariff backdrop, Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at the firm Janney Montgomery Scott told Reuters.
The market is “kind of trapped by the level of uncertainty that lurks out there”, Luschini said. “And therefore investors are largely unwilling to make big bets in one direction or another.”
US commerce secretary says exempted electronic products to come under separate tariffs
In an interview with ABC’s This Week, US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick has said that smartphones, computers and some other electronics including semiconductors will come under separate tariffs.
Mr Lutnick said these separate tariffs may be imposed in a month or so.
Trump’s car tariffs expected to cost industry over $100bn, with millions fewer cars sold
Wall Street and industry analysts have warned of massive global implications for the car manufacturing industry if Donald Trump’s 25 per cent import tariffs remain in place, with vehicle sales plummeting by millions as prices for both new and used cars surge, according to reporting by NBC News.
In the US alone, car manufacturers could see costs increase by $107.7bn, according to the Michigan-based think tank, the Centre for Automotive Research. That figure includes $41.9bn for the big three US firms – General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler.
These reports take into account both the 25 percent tariff on imported vehicles that went into effect 10 days ago, and the forthcoming 25 percent tariff on auto parts that begins on 3 May.
Oliver O’Connell reports from New York:
China welcomes Trump climbdown on electronics as ‘small step to correct’ tariffs
China has said it is evaluating the impact of Donald Trump’s decision to exclude phones, laptops and other electronics from his global tariffs.
In a statement on Sunday, China’s commerce ministry called the move a “small step by US to correct its wrong practice of unilateral ‘reciprocal tariffs’.”
“The bell on a tiger’s neck can only be untied by the person who tied it,” the ministry said, urging the US to make a major step in correcting what it called its wrongdoing and cancelling the tariffs completely.
Watch: Penguins to hold ‘protest march’ against Trump over tariffs gaffe
Business secretary insists he is ‘closely engaged’ on securing UK-US trade deal
Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds has said he is “closely engaged” with Washington on securing a trade deal to avert Donald Trump’s so-called “reciprocal” tariffs.
Asked when he expects to secure a UK-US trade deal, Mr Reynolds told Sky News: “Look I can’t give a timeline on that. We remain closely engaged. I had an exchange with my counterpart ambassador [Jamieson] Greer – I woke up to a message this morning from him. We remain engaged around that.
“The president himself, clearly, is the driving force and the decision-maker, as you would expect on the US side. I welcome the pause in the wider tariffs, we did receive a preferential position”.
But he insisted: “I am never going to be satisfied when there are barriers to trade between ourselves and the US, as I would do with any other key market. And I believe there is a way through.
“The next step is they are going to come back to us on some of the proposals we have put [forward].”
Labour ministers ‘don’t seem to be able to criticise Trump tariffs’, warns former party chair
Former Labour frontbencher Harriet Harman has warned that Sir Keir Starmer’s government appears to have a “restricted vocabulary” preventing ministers from speaking out against Donald Trump’s trade tariffs.
Speaking on Sky News’s Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Baroness Harman said: “They don’t seem to be able to be telling the country what I think the country needs to hear them saying, which is that what Trump is doing is a bad thing.
“They need to show that judgement about: it’s not okay for somebody in the largest economy in the world to wreak havoc, not only on their own country, but on our country and the rest of the global economy.
Baroness Harman pointed to the example of when the US put steel tariffs on the UK during the previous Labour government, recalling – in her words – Tony Blair as saying that such a move was “unacceptable” and that George “Bush has got it wrong”.
She continued: “It feels as if there’s a kind of restricted vocabulary amongst ministers at the moment, where they are speaking in code – ‘this is not where we want to be, we don’t want to see a trade war, we’re for open markets’ – but they’re not able to say about the elephant in the room, which is that Trump is wrong on this, we don’t agree with him.
“The other thing I think they should be doing is, they should be being more positive and giving more reassurance.”
Looser food standards off the menu in any US-UK trade deal, says business secretary
Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds has insisted that looser food standards remain off the table in talks for a UK-US trade deal, which he said would breach Labour’s promises during the general election campaign.
“We will never change our SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) food standards. We’ve made that perfectly clear to the United States,” he told Sky News.
China puts government officials on ‘wartime footing’ over Trump tariffs, report says
China has put civilian government officials in Beijing on “wartime footing” and ordered a diplomatic charm offensive aimed at encouraging other countries to push back against Donald Trump’s tariffs, four people familiar with the matter have told Reuters.
Communist Party propaganda officials have played a leading role in framing China’s response, one of the people said, with government spokespeople posting defiant clips on social media featuring former leader Mao Zedong saying “we will never yield”.
As part of the “wartime” posture, officials in China’s foreign affairs and commerce ministries have been ordered to cancel holiday plans and keep their mobile phones switched on around the clock, two of the sources said. US-facing departments have also been beefed up, including with officials who worked on China’s response to Mr Trump’s first term, they said.
