The Trump administration’s back-and-forth moves on tariffs for technology products are stirring confusion in a sector heavily reliant on global supply chains.

Tech companies breathed a sigh of relief last Friday when the Trump administration revealed electronics would be exempt from the “reciprocal” tariffs, but by the end of the weekend, President Trump signaled many of the same products will still be subject to expected sector-based tariffs.

The dizzying tariff changes are driving uncertainty for the technology industry, which is being forced to make manufacturing and supply chain decisions based on evolving goalposts.

“It’s creating an awful lot of chaos at the moment. A lot of uncertainty,” said Rob Handfield, a professor of supply chain management at North Carolina State University.

The state of play of Trump’s trade war changed a number of times over the past month, though the past two weeks saw some of the most drastic changes when it comes to the tech sector.

Trump imposed higher tariffs on nearly all of the U.S.’s trading partners last Wednesday. Later that day, he issued a 90-day pause on the higher rates after global market shares plummeted and dropped those tariffs for most countries to a baseline rate of 10 percent

Nonetheless, many tech companies were not entirely in the clear as many rely on manufacturing sites and supply chains in China, which was not included in the pause amid a larger trade war with Trump.

The White House slapped China with a 145 percent tariff, prompting China to impose a 125 percent retaliatory tariff on U.S. goods.

But then last Friday, guidance posted by Customs and Border Protection, which collects duties on imports, revealed about 20 products would be excluded from the tariffs. Products included smartphones, computers, routers and semiconductor chips.

The move was quickly celebrated by those in the tech industry and consumers hoping to avoid

© The Hill