The Trump administration denied on Monday that it was sending mixed messages over its tariff policy, with President Donald Trump‘s chief economic adviser blaming technical staff for the uneven rollout.
“I think that the team members of the president haven’t been surprised by news,” Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, told reporters when asked about confusion over whether certain countries or products are exempt from the tariffs.
“But I think that because of the normal development of things,” Hassett said, “like when you say we’re covering this, and then the technical staff has to come out and say, ‘Well, what exactly is this?’ If you have a semiconductor, is a toaster with a semiconductor a national security matter or not? There are people that have processes to decide those things, and those are ongoing.”
With the exception of China, Trump gave a 90-day reprieve on the Liberation Day tariffs that he had slapped on U.S. trading partners earlier this month. A universal 10% tariff stays in place as the United States seeks to hammer out deals with dozens of countries that have reached out for talks.
Over the weekend, Customs and Border Protection added fuel to the on-again and off-again tariffs by exempting smartphones and other electronics from the tariffs imposed on China.
On Sunday, Trump took to social media to declare that no country is getting “off the hook,” with the White House emphasizing the electronics would be subject to forthcoming semiconductor tariffs. Still, the president seemed to open the door to exemptions to that policy when speaking to reporters Sunday evening.
“You know, you have to show a certain flexibility. Nobody should be so rigid. You have to show a certain flexibility,” Trump said, according to pool reports.
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The vast majority of U.S. electronics are manufactured overseas, with China producing 80% of Apple smartphones sold in the U.S., but Trump is pressing to make the U.S. a key area for production and manufacturing.
“The White House is concerned about China, period,” Hassett also told reporters when asked about China’s efforts to align itself further with other regional countries. Chinese President Xi Jinping is in Vietnam on Monday for trade talks, with further stops in Malaysia and Cambodia.