‘No one is off the hook’: What Donald Trump’s latest threat means for the rest of the world

“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!” posted US President Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform on Saturday. This could mean that the tariff exemptions announced on Friday for smartphones, laptops, and other electronics are temporary.

 

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Sunday affirmed stating that the move was just a brief reprieve until the US administration decides a new tariff policy for the semiconductor industry.

 

Back on Friday, the Trump administration had announced that it would exclude electronics from the reciprocal tariffs. Such a move was then expected to benefit firms like chipmaker Nvidia.

 

Trump later stated that the “whole electronics supply chain” would be looked at in the upcoming ‘National Security Tariff Investigations’.

 

The tariff plans, so far, have been riddled with U-turns, revisions, exemptions, lifting of sanctions, and temporary pauses, leaving global markets in the aftermath of turbulent ups and downs. So far, the reciprocal tariffs have eaten into the market cap of major US tech giants such as Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, Tesla, Alphabet, and Meta.

 

China, on the other hand, posted better-than-expected exports in March, up 12 per cent year-on-year, on account of companies looking to beat the US tariffs. However, imports slumped by 4.3 per cent.

 

China logged a trade surplus of $27.6 billion with the United States in March, with the nation facing a staggering 145 per cent tariffs on most of its exports to the US. Chinese Premier Xi Jinping also launched a diplomacy tour in Southeast Asia starting with Vietnam on Monday.

 

“There are no winners in a trade war,” Xi stated in a joint publication that appeared in Vietnamese and Chinese official media.

Apart from Vietnam President Luong Cuong, Xi is set to meet with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh as well as the the Communist Party General Secretary To Lam. Xi is scheduled to visit Malaysia and Cambodia following the Vietnam visit.

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