Most Communications Industry Groups Silent on Trump's Tariffs

Smartphones, 5G radios, tower and networking equipment, and fiber are among the products predominantly imported into the U.S., which will get more expensive after tariffs are imposed, industry officials told us Thursday. Another issue is that more than 50% of the patents used in 5G are owned by Huawei, ZTE or another Chinese company.

The Telecommunications Industry Association wants to work with the Trump administration on tariffs, wrote Melissa Newman, its senior vice president-government affairs, in an email. “Tariffs reduce connectivity growth for consumers and businesses alike,” she said. “In the long run, increasing U.S. manufacturing of technology solutions will create jobs and improve cyber and supply chain security.”

Consumer Technology Association CEO Gary Shapiro opposed the tariffs in a statement Wednesday. The “sweeping global and reciprocal tariffs are massive tax hikes on Americans that will drive inflation, kill jobs on Main Street, and may cause a recession for the U.S. economy.”

IPC, which represents companies in the electronics manufacturing industry, said it appreciates Trump’s calls for rebuilding the sector in the U.S. but “tariffs will not achieve this goal,” the group said: “Trade is essential to supply chain resilience, innovation, and cost competitiveness. Without it, tariffs risk raising costs for American businesses and further driving production offshore.”

But a WISPA spokesperson downplayed the risk. “What is, and will have, a far greater impact is BEAD -- getting it right so that, among other things, it does not promote needless overbuilding.”

FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson warned companies against increasing prices unnecessarily as a result of the tariffs. “As we adjust to the new economic order, the @FTC will be watching closely to make sure American companies are vigorously competing on prices,” Ferguson said on X: “These necessary tariffs should not be interpreted as a green light for price fixing or any other unlawful behavior.”

University of Michigan economics professor Justin Wolfers criticized the tariffs on Bluesky, calling them “monstrously destructive, incoherent, ill-informed … based on fabrications, imagined wrongs, discredited theories and ignorance of decades of evidence.”

While some U.S. products don’t need exports to succeed, that’s not true for technology companies like Qualcomm, said Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) President Robert Atkinson during a webinar Thursday. “So many of these advanced technology companies have to have global markets for their business model to work,” he said. “It doesn’t work without a global market because their fixed costs are just so high.”

The tariffs also treat U.S. friends and foes similarly, Atkinson said. “I don’t mind putting America first … but you’re really saying 'America alone.'” That’s a “serious, serious mistake,” he said. “We need to practice full free trade with our allies.” Atkinson said he doesn’t expect much compromise on tariffs and protectionism from the Trump administration. “These people are hardcore true believers -- this is kind of very much a religious war.”

ITIF released a report recently calling for a new globalization model and for the U.S. to work with other nations to counter China. “The Trump administration is leading that effort by banning Chinese (e.g., Huawei and ZTE) telecom equipment and convincing many allies to do the same,” the report said: “Governments should do likewise whenever they can show that Chinese firms have unfairly benefited from Chinese policies.”

John Corrigan, senior director-trade and industrial strategy at Silverado Policy Accelerator, said during the webinar that tariffs will drive up prices for consumers but also create “enormous leverage” for Trump to negotiate with other countries. But the president also forgets that “other countries have their own political dynamics,” he said. It’s “quite challenging politically” for someone in Europe “to be the guy who stands up and says, ‘Let’s negotiate with Trump.’”