Tariff twists 'unfolding exactly like we thought it would,' Trump adviser says
WASHINGTON − After a whipsaw week that saw President Donald Trump make a temporary retreat on some tariffs amid wild stock market gyrations, a top trade adviser said it was all according to plan.
"This is unfolding exactly like we thought it would," White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said on NBC's Meet the Press on April 13 after Trump excluded electronics from the 125% tariff he slapped on Chinese imports.
Navarro insisted the carve-outs for smartphones, hard drives, and other tech products issued late Friday weren't really exclusions from the sky-high tariffs on Chinese imports.
"You want to call it an exemption – po-tay-toes, po-tah-toes ," he said.
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'A political tool'
Democrats have slammed the exemptions as a gift to wealthy tech CEOs that donated to Trump.
"If you're an industry that doesn't have political power or isn't paying off Donald Trump , the tariff still applies," Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, said in a video statement on April 12.
"It's not trade policy, it's not economic policy, it's just a political tool to enrich Donald Trump's friends and screw the rest of us," he said.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said on X that Apple CEO Tim Cook was "getting a big return on his investment" for donating $1 million to Trump's inauguration.
The retreat on tech products came as Trump's tariff flip-flops sent the stock market on a roller coaster ride .
Buckets of tariffs
Writing on Truth Social on April 13, Trump said there had been no exemption. "NOBODY is getting 'off the hook'”' for the unfair Trade Balances, and Non Monetary Tariff Barriers, that other Countries have used against us, especially not China which, by far, treats us the worst!" he said.
"There was no Tariff 'exception' announced on Friday," Trump wrote. "These products are subject to the existing 20% Fentanyl Tariffs, and they are just moving to a different Tariff 'bucket.'”
On April 9, Trump abruptly announced he would pause the reciprocal tariffs he had threatened to levy on countries worldwide for 90 days – other than tariffs on China, which he hiked up to 125%. The Dow tumbled 1,000 points on April 10 as the global economy braced for a trade war with China.
"We have a strategy here where the president says we’re going to charge them what they charge us," Navarro said. The tariffs were announced "knowing full well that a lot of countries would come right to us and want to bargain.”
Smartphones and tablets and tariffs
In interviews on April 13, Trump's trade officials said the exemptions for tech products issued the next day did not mean Trump was ceding any ground, and that separate tariffs on the goods were soon to come.
More: Trump smartphone tariff pause is temporary − measures 'coming soon,' Lutnick says
"They're exempt from the reciprocal tariffs, but they're included in the semiconductor tariffs, which are coming in probably a month or two," Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on ABC's "This Week."
Jamieson Greer, Trump's trade representative, said on CBS' "Face the Nation" that electronics are "shifting from one bucket of tariffs to a different bucket of potential tariffs."
Navarro's free trade feud with Elon Musk
Navarro also brushed off his feud last week with tech billionaire Elon Musk, whose electric car company, Tesla, could suffer amid the tariffs pushed by Navarro.
More: 'Truly a moron': Elon Musk slams Donald Trump's top trade adviser amid tariff debate
Musk said Navarro was " truly a moron " and "dumber than a sack of bricks" in an April 8 X post after the trade adviser implied Musk's opposition to tariffs on China boiled down to Tesla using Chinese-made batteries.
"I've been called worse," Navarro said in the Sunday NBC interview. "Everything's fine with Elon."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tariffs 'unfolding exactly like we thought it would': Trump adviser
