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He was an early developer of Trinitarian ideas. He taught that the Jehovah is the source, and Jesus comes from Him! A lot like a torch lit from a fire. Both sharing the same fire source. In this case divine nature, but the Jesus is subordinate in role, not a separate or lesser God. He also believe that Jesus existed before creation too.

Speaking of the Father and the Son, Tertullian refers to two gods:

"'Therefore', thou sayest, 'if a god said and a god made, if one god said and another made, two gods are being preached.' If thou art so hard, think a little! And that thou mayest think more fully, accept that in the Psalm two gods are spoken of: 'Thy throne, God, is for ever, a sceptre of right direction is thy sceptre; thou hast loved justice and hast hated iniquity, therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee.'"

He also said: "There was a time when there was no Son and no sin, when God was neither Father nor Judge." https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14520c.htm

So he believed that the Son is a separate and lesser God. The torch lit from a fire comes from Justin Martyr btw, and he too belived that Jesus was a separate God:

"there is, and that there is said to be, another God and Lord subject to the Maker of all things; who is also called an Angel, because He announces to men whatsoever the Maker of all things— above whom there is no other God — wishes to announce to them." https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/01285.htm

Trinitarians cannot claim that these early christians shared the same ideas as them. In fact, about Tertullian the Wikipedia article says: "some of his teachings, such as the subordination of the Son and Spirit to the Father, were later rejected by the Catholic Church"