Tariff exemptions announced on Friday on electronics like smartphones and laptops are only a temporary reprieve until the Trump administration develops a new tariff approach specific to the semiconductor industry, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday.

White House officials, including President Donald Trump himself, spent Sunday downplaying the significance of exemptions that lessen but won't eliminate the effect of US tariffs on imports of popular consumer devices and their key components.

“They’re exempt from the reciprocal tariffs but they’re included in the semiconductor tariffs, which are coming in probably a month or two,” Lutnick told ABC's “This Week” on Sunday.

Trump added to the confusion hours later, declaring on social media that there was no “exception” at all because the goods are “just moving to a different" bucket.

The Trump administration late Friday had said it would exclude electronics from broader so-called reciprocal tariffs, a move that could help keep the prices down for phones and other consumer products that aren’t usually made in the US. (AP)