China says US tariff break a 'small step' to fixing mistake

Bloomberg News on Apr 13, 2025

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China’s government said the U.S. decision to exempt certain consumer electronics from its so-called reciprocal tariffs is a small step toward rectifying its wrongdoings and urged Washington to do more to revoke the levies.

President Donald Trump’s administration excluded smartphones, computers and other electronics from the increased import duties on Friday, narrowing the scope of his tariffs of 125% on goods from China and a baseline 10% on imports from most other countries.

“This is a small step by the U.S. toward correcting its wrongful action of unilateral ‘reciprocal tariffs’”, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement posted on its official WeChat account on Sunday. The ministry went on to urge the U.S. to “take a big stride in completely abolishing the wrongful action, and return to the correct path of resolving differences through equal dialog based on mutual respect.”

Trump’s latest exemptions cover almost $390 billion in U.S. imports based on official U.S. 2024 trade statistics, including more than $101 billion from China, according to data compiled by Gerard DiPippo, associate director of the Rand China Research Center.

Trump on Saturday declined to elaborate on the exemptions beyond the published memoranda but hinted at further developments on Monday.

“I’ll give you that answer on Monday. We’ll be very specific on Monday,” he told reporters on Air Force One. “We’re taking in a lot of money; as a country we’re taking in a lot of money.”

The White House also released a corresponding memo indicating that the exemptions also extend to changes in small-parcel shipping duties. Trump had moved to end the so-called “de minimis” exemption, beginning with China, that generally means parcels worth $800 or below don’t face duties.

The tariff reprieve may prove fleeting. The exclusions stem from the initial order, which prevented extra tariffs on certain sectors from stacking cumulatively on top of the country-wide rates. The exclusion is a sign that the products may soon be subject to a different tariff, albeit almost surely a lower one for China.

The products that won’t be subject to Trump’s new tariffs include machines used to make semiconductors. That would be important for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which has announced a major new investment in the U.S., as well as other chipmakers.

“All products that are properly classified in these listed provisions will be excluded from the reciprocal tariffs,” the notice said.

The move appeared to exclude the products from the 10% global baseline tariff on other countries, including Samsung Electronics Co.’s home of South Korea.

The tariff reprieve does not extend to a separate Trump levy on China — a 20% duty applied to pressure Beijing to crack down on fentanyl, including the shipment of precursor materials. Other previously existing levies, including those that predate Trump’s current term, also appear unaffected.

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(With assistance from Debby Wu, Josh Wingrove and Shawn Donnan.)

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