Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick walked back the recent reciprocal tariff exemption

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick walked back the recent reciprocal tariff exemption on select electronics announced in an April 12 bulletin

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has walked back the recent reciprocal tariff exemption on select electronics announced in an April 12 bulletin from the United States Customs and Border Protection.

Speaking to ABC News on April 13, Lutnick said the exemption was temporary until the administration established a sector tariff regime for semiconductor products, which includes phones, graphics processors, and computing chips in "a month or two."

"We're going to be putting all the products in a category, and we're going to be doing it in a month or two," Lutnick said. "We're going to have a semiconductor tariff category, and we're going to have a different category for everything else."

The administration officials are currently working to create a "geopolitical framework" for the new tariff category, which will also depend on cooperation from U.S. allies, according to the report.

"We can't be relying on China for fundamental things we need. Our medicines and our semiconductors need to be built in America," Lutnick continued. The official added that he was confident the U.S. and China would arrive at a trade deal through negotiations.

The emphasis on national security and onshoring critical industries could signal that the trade tariffs will be a long-term geostrategic policy and not simply a short-term negotiation tactic to make U.S. exports more attractive, as some analysts have suggested.

The emphasis on national security and onshoring critical industries could signal that the trade tariffs will be a long-term geostrategic policy and not simply a short-term negotiation tactic to make U.S. exports more attractive, as some analysts have suggested.

The Volatility S&P Index (VIX), a measure of the S&P stock index’s volatility, remains elevated amid macroeconomic uncertainty.

The Trump administration’s trade tariffs crashed the stock and crypto markets, wiping away trillions in shareholder value as investors dumped riskier assets on fears of a lengthy trade war between the United States and its trading partners.

In an April 10 X Post, Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas cited the SPY US Equity History Volume chart as evidence that the S&P 500 stock market index is now more volatile than Bitcoin (BTC).

According to the analyst, the S&P 500 Index hit a volatility level of 74 in April, compared to Bitcoin’s 71.

Stocks and crypto pumped following rumors of the Trump administration initiating a 90-day reciprocal tariff pause. Approximately $2 trillion was pumped into stocks on rumors of softer trade policies.

Much of this value was then wiped away when Trump claimed that rumors of a 90-day pause were false and returned once the Trump administration did, in fact, issue a reciprocal tariff pause in the following days.