When President Trump’s steep tariffs threatened to send the price of iPhones soaring, Apple’s chief executive, Tim Cook, called the White House — and soon secured a reprieve for his company and the broader electronics industry.
Almost immediately, top aides to Mr. Trump insisted they had not strayed from their promise to apply import taxes across the economy with minimal, if any, exceptions. But the carve-out still caught the attention of many businesses nationwide, igniting a fresh scramble for similar help in the throes of a global trade war.
Top lobbying groups for the agriculture, construction, manufacturing, retail and technology industries have pleaded with the White House in recent days to relax more of its tariffs, with many arguing that there are some products they must import simply because they are too expensive or impractical to produce in the United States.
On Monday, executives from retailers including Home Depot, Target and Walmart became the latest to raise their concerns directly with Mr. Trump, as the industry continues to brace for the possibility that steep taxes on imports could result in price increases for millions of American consumers.
“We had a productive meeting with President Trump and our retail peers to discuss the path forward on trade, and we remain committed to delivering value for American consumers,” a Target spokesman, Jim Joice, said in a statement.
Doug McMillon, Walmart’s chief executive, has previously acknowledged the many “variables” surrounding Mr. Trump’s tariffs and retail prices. A spokeswoman for Walmart confirmed the meeting on Monday, describing the conversation in a statement as “productive.” Other companies did not respond to requests for comment.
“The deal window may be open,” David French, the executive vice president for government relations at the National Retail Federation, said in an interview last week. He said his industry had sought an audience with Mr. Trump and his team to make the case that “the consumer is very alarmed at what they fear is on the way in terms of higher prices.”
Many businesses say they want to satisfy the president’s demands and begin producing or purchasing more of their goods domestically. But they have also tried to impress on Mr. Trump and his aides that they cannot reconfigure their complicated global supply chains overnight, especially if steep import taxes on machinery and other critical components result in substantially higher manufacturing costs.
“We are calling on the administration to scope out specific manufacturing inputs that we need, specifically to make things in America,” said Charles Crain, the managing vice president for policy at the National Association of Manufacturers, whose board of directors includes executives from Caterpillar, Dow Inc., Pfizer and Toyota.
Kip Eideberg, the senior vice president for government relations at the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, said his group “made the case to the administration that if they want to achieve their stated objective, strengthening U.S. manufacturing and bolstering our global competitiveness, then there needs to be relief.”
His association, which represents a broad swath of agricultural and construction equipment firms, has called for a “blanket, no-tariff approach to parts and components that are critical and cannot be sourced at scale anywhere else.”
Now fully enmeshed in a global trade war, Mr. Trump has sent mixed messages about what he has described as a “flexible” tariff strategy.
Last week, the president acknowledged that he had “helped” Apple at Mr. Cook’s request, sparing iPhones from the new, roughly 145 percent U.S. tariff that currently applies to Chinese imports. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, the president said, “I don’t want to hurt anybody.”
But the Trump administration then took the first formal steps toward unveiling specific tariffs on semiconductors, the memory chips that power iPhones and other computing devices, as well as the machines that help to manufacture those goods. The move suggested that any relief for Apple may ultimately prove short-lived.
Mr. Trump suggested on that same day that he could extend similar aid to automakers, who are now subject to a 25 percent tariff on cars and auto parts imported into the United States. The president acknowledged that the industry would “need a little bit of time” to begin manufacturing vehicles and components in the United States, in comments that immediately caused carmakers’ share prices to spike.
No such reprieve has been announced. But the president’s aides and advisers have privately signaled renewed openness to discussing tariff exemptions. On a few occasions over the past month, officials with the Domestic Policy Council and elsewhere in the government have asked business groups to furnish lists of materials and machinery that they cannot quickly and easily make in the United States, according to two people familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity to describe the private discussions.
“The administration maintains regular contact with business leaders, industry groups and everyday Americans about our trade and economic policies,” Kush Desai, a spokesman for the White House, said in a statement. “President Trump, however, has been clear: If you’re worried about tariffs, the solution is simple. Make your product in America.”
For now, the president and his team have focused primarily on negotiating a series of bilateral trade agreements with dozens of countries that the administration says are engaging in unfair trade practices, including by imposing tariffs and other restrictions on American goods. This month, Mr. Trump announced stiff tariffs on nearly all of America’s trading partners, including India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and the European Union, before pausing those levies for 90 days in order to engage in negotiations.
On Monday, Vice President JD Vance met in India with the country’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, as the White House races to try to clinch “90 deals in 90 days,” as some of Mr. Trump’s aides have said. Without a deal, India could face a 26 percent “reciprocal” tariff rate.
Even without any trade agreements in hand, Mr. Trump has highlighted his approach as a success, boasting that his policies have helped to attract trillions of dollars in private investments from companies including Apple, OpenAI and Nvidia.
“Since our announcement of LIBERATION DAY, many World Leaders and Business Executives have come to me asking for relief from Tariffs,” the president posted on Truth Social on Sunday. “It’s good to see that the World knows we are serious, because WE ARE!”
Mr. Trump added, “But for those who want the easiest path: Come to America, and build in America!”
But the reality is more complicated. Early indicators suggest that some companies have actually slowed their spending out of concern that tariffs could result in higher input prices. One survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, released in April, found that manufacturing activity in the region had declined for the second consecutive month while firms generally said they expected “conditions to worsen in the months ahead.”
Some business groups have echoed those fears, warning the White House that U.S. firms may not be able to meet their own domestic investment targets if the economics worsen. These companies may not be able to create new factories and jobs, as they have promised, without stable financial markets, available labor and access to raw materials and machinery — all inputs that may be made more expensive by the president’s recent tariffs.
“From our perspective, the Trump administration’s goal is clear: to enter into trade agreements, and they’re moving at a fast pace,” said Jason Oxman, the president of the Information Technology Industry Council, whose members include Apple and Nvidia.
“But the question for the companies looking to invest in the United States is how long will their operating expenses be higher because of the tariff regime, which may reduce the available investment for capital expenditures,” Mr. Oxman added, cautioning that he was not speaking on behalf of those tech giants.
The administration did exempt some metals, including copper and zinc, as well as rare earth minerals from the reciprocal tariffs that Mr. Trump announced and suspended in early April.
But many trade experts said any breaks may only be temporary. Much as it has for semiconductors, the administration has opened an investigation to determine whether lumber imports pose a threat to national security, a precursor to Washington issuing sector-specific tariffs under a provision of law known as Section 232.
That reflected a strategic choice by the White House “to give businesses time to relocate their production back to the United States and ramp up enough capacity and production in the U.S. to meet demand,” said Nick Iacovella, the executive vice president of the Coalition for a Prosperous America, an advocacy group that supports the president’s trade policies.
“There are always going to be companies that are going to want exemptions,” Mr. Iacovella continued, adding that the administration should resist those calls because they threaten to “undermine” Mr. Trump’s objectives.
