On April 11, 2025, the Trump administration excluded smartphones, computers, and certain other electronics from the new reciprocal tariffs. Goods from China in those categories still faced a separate 20% tariff, but they were spared the additional rate that had pushed the total tariff on many Chinese imports to 145%. Clothes and many household goods received no comparable exclusion.
Think about who was being asked to pay the price. Tariffs are charged to importers, and those costs can move through businesses to consumers. That meant everyday working Americans – families already juggling tight budgets, single parents barely making ends meet, and people trying to stretch every paycheck – faced the risk of higher prices.
To me, this was not smart economics; it was economic madness. Giving selected electronics a reprieve while leaving many ordinary imports exposed was reckless. It turned tariff policy into another source of uncertainty around the cost of basics.
Trump supporters loved to say he was playing “4D Chess,” claiming there was some genius master plan. But if the policy changed which consumers and industries absorbed the pain without offering a stable path forward, that was not genius. It was incompetence.
What looked clear on April 12, 2025, was that the tariff strategy had become a chaotic series of escalations and exceptions. The electronics exclusion arrived days after the new rates took effect, creating more uncertainty for businesses and consumers trying to understand what the policy would cost.
Real leadership is not about noise or drama. It is about making smart, coherent decisions. On April 12, 2025, this did not look like 4D chess. It looked like pieces being knocked around the board while Americans were left to calculate the cost.
