UNION SQUARE, Manhattan (PIX11) -- The tariff battle between President Trump and China is continuing and getting more complicated by the minute.
Just a few days ago, the sky-high tariffs on cell phones and laptops from China were lifted, but now they may be brought back in just a few months.
“If there are no tariffs, people can afford to buy computers and phones,” Jamie Akbas, a Best Buy shopper, told PIX11 News. “It’s better,” he added.
There was no longer a rush to buy smartphones and laptops at the Best Buy on Union Square over the weekend after the Trump administration spared certain electronics from sky-high tariffs on Chinese exports.
But now that may be changing once again, President Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says those exemptions may just be temporary. “They’re exempt from reciprocal tariffs, but included in semiconductor tariffs that could probably be coming in a month or two,” Lutnick said.
The president’s move to exclude electronics from reciprocal tariffs would help keep prices down for popular consumer devices that aren’t usually made in the U.S.
And that is good for the economy, according to associate professor of accounting at the University of New Haven, James Mohs. “It’s like the tariff du jour, changing by the minute,” Professor Mohr, via Zoom, told PIX11 News. “It’s really hard to keep up with it,” he added.
At Dragon Fest, a festival celebrating Chinese food and culture, vendors like Saucy Bao from Flushing were worried about how the tariffs on non-electronic items would affect them.
“We will have to buy something here, double price,” Stephanie Li, the owner of Saucy Bao, told PIX11 News.
Back outside Best Buy, there was confusion over the Trump administration's possible rollback of exemptions on electronics:
“When he heard that people were freaking out about the cost of a phone, he changed it and he could change it again tomorrow,” Rew Starr, a Union Square resident, told PIX11 News.
President Trump said over the weekend that he would get into more specifics on the tariff exemptions on Monday.
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