Trump will explain tariffs on electronics on Monday

The administration announced late Friday that some electronics were exempt.

Last Updated: April 13, 2025, 11:43 PM EDT

President Donald Trump on Sunday said there will be no exceptions for tariffs on electronics and that he would clarify his administration's policy on Monday.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced late Friday that some smartphones, computers, chips and other electronics would be exempted from tariffs, but Trump's top economic advisers hit the Sunday talk shows to explain the policy, saying that tariffs against electronics would be coming in the next month or two.

“There was no Tariff ‘exemption’ announced on Friday," Trump posted Sunday afternoon, and that semiconductor tariffs will “just be moving to a different Tariff ‘bucket.’”

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing.
Apr 08, 2025, 8:17 PM EDT

Impact of tariffs: Maryland contractor says suppliers have already raised prices

President Donald Trump's sweeping tariff policies are already impacting home building.

ABC News spoke with Scott Saling, a second-generation contractor in Potomac, Maryland.

Saling said nearly every material used to build his home comes from overseas -- or is constructed from materials imported from other countries -- from the HVAC to the railings, the sheetrock, the metal brackets and the lumber too.

PHOTO: BELAIR
Neighbors and home repair contractors talking outside on neighboring street from the house explosion in Bel Air, Md. (Photo by Micah E. Wood for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The Washington Post via Getty Im

"You've got steel, tile wood, all sourced from Canada and China," Saling said.

Already, Saling said his suppliers have started raising prices anywhere from 5% to 20% on supplies amid the tariff threats.

"Increases on roofing and lumber materials and metal. It's already here," he said, adding he has "no choice" but to pass the costs off to his customers.

-ABC News' Rachel Scott Benjamin Siegel

Apr 08, 2025, 8:17 PM EDT

'Made in America' is making a comeback, says pro-tariff lawmaker

Rep. Marlin Stutzman of Indiana joined ABC News Live on Tuesday to react to the latest on President Donald Trump’s tariff plans and the impact he thinks they will have.

"Made in America is on a comeback. We all talk about buying made in America, and instead, what's happened over the last several decades is that a lot of these manufactured goods are made elsewhere, whether it's Mexico or China," the Republican congressman told anchor Linsey Davis.

PHOTO: CPAC 2016
Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., speaks at the American Conservative Union's CPAC conference at National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Md., on Thursday, March 3, 2016. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Imag

Despite the roller coaster stock market reactions to Trump's trade action, Stutzman believes the tariffs will make the country financially stronger in the long run.

"I would rather see President Trump doing what he's doing and setting the stage for our country to be strong economically because we have a debt crisis coming at us," Stutzman said.

Trump's sweeping tariffs are set to go into effect at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday.

-ABC News' Luca Balbo

Apr 08, 2025, 5:48 PM EDT

Trump claims multiple countries will fly to US to negotiate

During a photo op with coal miners where he signed an executive order related to the coal industry, Trump touched on tariffs and claimed multiple countries would be flying to the U.S. to strike a "tailored deal."

"These are tailored, highly tailored deals. Right now, Japan is flying here to make a deal. South Korea is flying here to make a deal. And others are flying here," he said.

President Donald Trump speaks during an event on energy production in the East Room of the White House, April 8, 2025, in Washington.
Alex Brandon/AP

The tariffs don't go into effect until midnight, but Trump claimed without evidence that the U.S. was already bringing in "$2 billion a day" through the tariffs.

"Our problem is you can’t see that many that fast. But we don't have to because ... the money is pouring in at a level that we've never seen before. And, it's going to be great for us," the president claimed without giving more details.

-ABC News Hannah Demissie, Molly Nagle and Kelsey Walsh

Apr 08, 2025, 2:52 PM EDT

'Whose throat do I get to choke if this proves to be wrong?' Republican senator says over tariffs

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who grilled the president's top trade negotiator on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, expressed deep frustration with the tariffs as he entered the Senate Finance Committee.

"Of course, it concerns me. I mean my god, it's a stability issue. Businesses hate uncertainty. We've got a lot of uncertainty," he told ABC News.

Sen. Thom Tillis talks with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer ahead of a hearing at the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 8, 2025.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP

When the hearing got underway, Tillis drove home that point.

"Whose throat do I get to choke if this proves to be wrong?" Tillis said.

Other Republicans are standing by the president but admit they don't know what the president's next move is.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told ABC News the president is "absolutely correct" that foreign countries have trade barriers, but he also acknowledged he doesn't know what the president's "game plan" is.

"Whether this will have a happy ending or a sad ending depends in large part what President Trump does next," Kennedy said.

-ABC News' Rachel Scott and Allison Pecorin

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