President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he is delaying some tariffs on Chinese imports ahead of the Christmas season to stem their potential impact on holiday shopping.

The Trump administration announced hours earlier that it would delay until Dec. 15 some of the tariffs that were originally scheduled to come into effect Sept. 1.

"We're doing this for the Christmas season," Trump told reporters on an airport tarmac around noon Tuesday. "Just in case some of the tariffs would have an impact on U.S. customers."

"So far they've had virtually none," the president added. "But just in case they might have an impact on people, what we've done is we've delayed it, so that they won't be relevant to the Christmas shopping season."

The acknowledgement that tariffs could harm holiday sales marks a shift for Trump, a self-described "tariff man" who has long claimed that the taxes on imports help the U.S. while applying pressure on China.

The U.S. trade representative said the delay would apply to a wide variety of goods, including certain electronics such as cellphones, laptops and video games.

A slew of Christmas-related products also appeared on the delay list. They include decorations for "Christmas festivities, nativity scenes and figures thereof," as well as Christmas tree lights and ornaments.

No other items for specific holidays appear to be included in the delay list.