Trump says he’s “flexible” on electronic tariffs, and that more developments are “coming up”
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller | Consolidated News Photos/Shutterstock and Adobe modified by Blockworks
This is a segment from the Forward Guidance newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.
If you logged off on Friday at the close and didn’t check futures prices or the news until this morning (unlikely, I know, but maybe you spent the weekend at the Masters), you have some catching up to do.
To recap: The US Customs and Border Protection late Friday night issued guidance exempting certain consumer electronics (smartphones, computers, etc.) from both reciprocal tariffs on China and the 10% global tariff on all imports. Machines used to assemble semiconductors are also exempt, the guidance noted.
On Saturday afternoon, though, White House senior adviser Stephen Miller said that these products, when imported from China, are still subject to a 20% levy.
Trump doubled down (sort of) on Sunday, writing in a Truth Social post that “there was no tariff ‘exemption’ announced on Friday.” Semiconductor tariffs will be moved to a different “bucket,” he said, adding that he would clarify everything on Monday.
When asked about it this morning, Trump told reporters this: “Look, I’m a very flexible person. I don’t change my mind, but I’m flexible, and you have to be.”
He added that “there’ll be many things coming up” and he “[doesn’t] want to hurt anybody.”
We try to cover news as close to schedules as possible, but this administration loves to keep everyone on their toes. With that in mind, as of time of writing, Trump didn’t provide any specifics on tariffs on electronics.
We’ll be watching for updates, but buckle up in the meantime. It’s looking to be another unpredictable week.
Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:
- Blockworks Daily: Unpacking crypto and the markets.
- Empire: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.
- Forward Guidance: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.
- 0xResearch: Alpha directly in your inbox.
- Lightspeed: All things Solana.
- The Drop: Apps, games, memes and more.
- Supply Shock: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.
SUN – MON, JUN. 22 – 23, 2025
Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]
Industry City | Brooklyn, NY
TUES – THURS, JUNE 24 – 26, 2025
Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.
Mon – Wed, October 13 – 15, 2025
Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.
Research
Utilizing a ‘DeFi Mullet’ approach, Coinbase’s Bitcoin-backed loans integration with Morpho demonstrates a powerful blueprint for CEXs to monetize dormant assets by expanding adoption of wrapped products (cbBTC, USDC) while also supporting native and/or preferred DeFi ecosystems (Base) which can further lead to downstream growth in onchain liquidity and increased utilization of the related assets.
news
Breaking headlines across our core coverage categories.
Forward Guidance’s Felix Jauvin noted that he’s bullish on both crypto and bitcoin on a “mean reversion basis”
This is the largest equity investment that Framework Ventures has ever made,” Framework’s Michael Anderson exclusively told Blockworks
The stickiness could be the result of bear market conditions where users are swapping out of riskier tokens to hold stablecoins on Solana apps instead, a Blockworks Research analyst said
The dollar index is down 3.7% today from Wednesday, and consumer sentiment fell to lower than expected
Ethereum core developers finalize Pectra’s May 7 launch and wrap scoping of the next upgrade
Not all heroes wear capes — some drive across the US in the name of Bitcoin
