The Trump administration’s shifting stance on tariffs for technology products has sparked widespread confusion in an industry deeply entangled in global supply chains. While tech companies initially welcomed a temporary reprieve from tariffs, the White House quickly signaled that many of those products might still be targeted, leaving businesses scrambling to adapt.
On Friday, the technology sector appeared to catch a break when the Trump administration announced that electronic goods would be exempt from the “reciprocal” tariffs. However, by Sunday, President Trump indicated that many of these same products could still be affected by the upcoming sector-specific tariffs.
These abrupt changes have created significant instability for technology companies, which now must make critical decisions about manufacturing and logistics under rapidly shifting policy conditions.
“It’s creating an awful lot of chaos at the moment. A lot of uncertainty,” said Rob Handfield, a supply chain management professor at North Carolina State University.
Over the past month, the course of Trump’s trade war has shifted several times, but the last two weeks have brought the most notable changes for tech firms. On a single Wednesday, the administration introduced steep tariff increases on nearly all U.S. trading partners. Later that same day, Trump implemented a 90-day delay on these increases after global market shares took a nosedive, reverting most tariff rates to a baseline of 10 percent.
Yet China, central to the ongoing trade conflict, was excluded from this pause. This exclusion was particularly troubling for tech companies dependent on Chinese factories and materials. As a result, the U.S. imposed a steep 145 percent tariff on Chinese imports, prompting China to retaliate with a 125 percent tariff on U.S. products.
Amid this tit-for-tat escalation, the Customs and Border Protection agency posted new guidance last Friday exempting about 20 tech-related products from tariffs. This list included essential consumer electronics like smartphones, computers, routers, and semiconductor chips. The move was met with applause from tech firms and consumers relieved to avoid higher electronics prices.
However, that optimism was short-lived. Two days later, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick clarified that the exemption was not permanent. “This is not like a permanent sort of exemption,” Lutnick said on ABC News’s “This Week.” “[Trump’s] just clarifying that these are not available to be negotiated away by countries. These are things that are national security, that we need to be made in America.”
President Trump echoed this sentiment later on Sunday, revealing plans to introduce tariffs specifically on semiconductors—a category that would likely encompass many of the products temporarily exempted.
When questioned on Monday about whether Apple products might receive exemptions, Trump didn’t offer a clear answer but instead emphasized his adaptable approach to the tariff situation. “Look, I’m a very flexible person. I don’t change my mind, but I’m flexible. And you have to be. You just can’t have a wall, and you’ll only go — no, sometimes you have to go around it, under it or above it,” Trump explained.
He also noted his ongoing discussions with Apple CEO Tim Cook. “There’ll be maybe things coming up. I speak to Tim Cook; I helped Tim Cook recently, and that whole business. I don’t want to hurt anybody,” Trump added.
The White House also confirmed plans to launch a Section 232 investigation into electronics imports, laying the legal groundwork for semiconductor tariffs. A Section 232 probe allows the Commerce Department to evaluate the national security risks posed by imported goods.
Defending the administration’s approach on Monday, White House spokesperson Kush Desai stated, “By implementing a historic 125 percent reciprocal tariff on China while pursuing a Section 232 investigation on electronics imports, President Trump is taking a nuanced, strategic approach to combat China’s unfair trade practices and reshore the high-tech manufacturing that is critical to our national and economic security.”
Desai added that this approach would bolster ongoing efforts to drive domestic investment in electronics and semiconductors. “This approach will build on the hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of electronics and semiconductor investment commitments that the administration has secured without letting China exploit loopholes to keep undermining American industries and workers,” he said.
For companies caught in the crosshairs of this tariff conflict, the lack of clarity has made planning extremely difficult. “Companies cherish stability, predictability, certainty in the business environment and that applies not just to trade policy, but institutionally, programmatically, regulatorily, etc.,” said Stephen Ezell, vice president for global innovation policy at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.
While most firms have remained quiet about their contingency plans, some have made their adjustments public. Nintendo, for instance, moved part of its manufacturing out of China and recently announced a delay in preorders for its upcoming Switch 2 console. The company said it was evaluating “the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions.”
Tesla, Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company, also suspended sales of some models in China following the imposition of retaliatory tariffs, although it did not officially confirm that trade tensions were the cause.
Ezell believes that many companies will proceed cautiously until the final shape of the tariffs and trade deals is clear. “Until there is more clarity on the final contours of the tariffs and trade relationship,” he noted, companies are likely to remain in a holding pattern.
Handfield, who also serves as the executive director of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative, said that firms are engaging in scenario planning. “What if tariffs go to X? What if they go to Y? What if we move this facility over here?” he said. “So they’re starting to look at the potential impacts, they’re not going to make any major decisions until things stabilize a little bit.”
According to experts, more stable trade negotiations and concrete outcomes would prompt companies to invest again. “Are you going to make an investment until you know what the outcome of the negotiation is? Probably not,” Ezell explained. “The more this is unclear, the more this is open, that this is prone to change, it will have a dampening effect on investment.”
Still, he acknowledged that some artificial intelligence companies may act quickly when opportunities arise. “That said, AI companies are always evaluating the day-to-day environments and if they see a strategic opportunity to make a move, they probably will,” he said.
Chipmaker Nvidia offered a rare example of decisive action in the current climate. On Monday, the company announced plans to produce up to $500 billion worth of AI chips and supercomputers in the U.S. over the next four years. Trump celebrated the move, saying, “without tariffs, they wouldn’t be doing it,” although Ezell pointed out Nvidia’s financial strength made it uniquely positioned to take such a step.
In the broader business world, however, the unpredictability of the administration’s policies has led to open frustration. DHL Group CEO Tobias Meyer remarked during a Bloomberg Television interview, “They don’t know, even if something is announced, whether two days later it’s not changed again. You really see some fatigue of decision makers in manufacturing and also in the distribution sector.”
Kevin O’Leary, an investor and Trump ally known for his role on “Shark Tank,” also criticized the administration’s inconsistent messaging. “It’s a little chaotic from the point of view that you don’t get a consistent message out of the administration. I admit that’s a problem,” O’Leary told Fox Business Network on Monday.