Hopes of a tariff climb-down by US president Donald Trump were dashed again last night after one of his top advisers said exempted tech firms will be whacked with levies within months, writes Emily Hawkins.

Mr Trump made an extraordinary climbdown over the weekend by declaring that smartphones, computers and other electronic devices will be exempted from tariffs – including the 125% he had charged on China imports.

But in another chaotic development, US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick said last night that the goods were likely to be hit by new tariffs soon.

He said: “What he [Mr Trump] is doing is he’s saying they’re exempt from the reciprocal tariffs.

“But they’re included in the semiconductor tariffs, which are coming in probably a month or two.”

Mr Trump’s tariff announcements have triggered chaos on the stock markets.

The president continues to face calls from leading supporters and donors to reverse his policy amid fears of another major Wall Street sell-off this week.

Wall Street financier and Trump ally Bill Ackman yesterday called for a 90-day pause on the heaviest tariffs on China, urging the president to offer a reprieve to smaller businesses.

The billionaire hedge fund manager said: “The problem is that there remain millions of small and medium-sized US businesses that suffer from an inability to adapt to the tariffs on China overnight.”

Temporarily reducing tariffs from 145% to 10% would allow time to negotiate a deal with China, Mr Ackman argued.

Meanwhile, China yesterday amped up pressure on the US president to “completely cancel” the tariffs.

The White House said: “President Trump has made it clear America cannot rely on China to manufacture critical technologies such as semiconductors, chips, smartphones and laptops.

“At the direction of the president, these companies are hustling to onshore their manufacturing in the United States as soon as possible.”