Trump Exempts Phone, Computers, Chips From 'Reciprocal' Tariffs
The exclusions apply to smartphones, laptop computers, hard drives and computer processors and memory chips. Those popular consumer electronics items generally aren’t made in the US.
Bloomberg
Apple, Nvidia Score Reprieve from Trump Tariffs With Exemptions
Debby Wu, Josh Wingrove and Shawn Donnan | Sat, April 12, 2025 at 11:03 AM EDT (Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump’s administration exempted smartphones, computers, and other electronics from its so-called reciprocal tariffs, representing a major reprieve for global technology manufacturers including Apple Inc. and Nvidia Corp. even if it proves a temporary one.
The exclusions, published late Friday by US Customs and Border Protection, narrow the scope of the levies by excluding the products from Trump’s 125% China tariff and his baseline 10% global tariff on nearly all other countries.
The exclusions apply to smartphones, laptop computers, hard drives and computer processors and memory chips. Those popular consumer electronics items generally aren’t made in the US.
The pause will be welcome news to consumers, some of whom rushed to buy new iPhones and other devices amid fears that the tariffs would send prices soaring. It’s also a big win for major technology companies that have presented massive US spending pledges for Trump in recent months. Trump’s tariffs upended global markets, triggered a selloff in stocks, and ignited a rapidly escalating trade war with China.
The move is the first significant softening of any kind in Trump’s conflict with China. It was backdated to April 5.
“Honestly, I’m very comfortable now” with the China tariffs, Trump told reporters earlier Friday on Air Force One, while touting his relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping. “And I think something positive is going to come out of that.”
The tariff reprieve may prove fleeting. The exclusions stem from the initial order, which prevented extra tariffs on certain sectors from stacking cumulatively on top of the country-wide rates. The exclusion is a sign that the products may soon be subject to a different tariff, albeit almost surely a lower one for China.
The products that won’t be subject to Trump’s new tariffs include machines used to make semiconductors. That would be important for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which has announced a major new investment in the US, as well as other chipmakers.
“All products that are properly classified in these listed provisions will be excluded from the reciprocal tariffs,” the notice said.
The move appeared to exclude the products from the 10% global baseline tariff on other countries, including Samsung Electronics Co.’s home of South Korea.
Bloomberg Reporting.Excerpts from a China analyst interview with Channel 4 News, a British Broadcasting Service, on April 11, 2025, ‘China is determined to fight to the very end of the trade war.’
“China is determined to fight to the very end of the trade war.”
‘China has been here for 5000 years. Most of the time, there was no United States, and we survived’ China analyst Victor Gao says that ‘China will fight to the very end’ in a trade war after President Trump hit China with 145% tariffs.
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‘We have someone at the wheel of the global economy who is blackout drunk right now.’
“Trump’s Trade War Will Hit US Prosperity Hard, IMF Warns.”
U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war will significantly impact the global economy and has increased the risk of a financial crisis, the International Monetary Fund warned.
"The uncertainty in trade policy, and policy generally right now, is a big drag on global activity," Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas told AFP ahead of Tuesday's publication of the IMF World Economic Outlook report.
"And the sooner we can lift it, the better off everyone will be," he said, adding: "Bringing back stability, clarity, predictability to the trading system is the first order of business."
Trump's new tariffs contribute to nearly half of the significant reduction in the IMF's growth forecast for the US this year. Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, the IMF's chief economist, mentioned in a blog post that uncertainty surrounding policy has already weakened demand in the US, even before the recent announcements about the tariffs.
Gourinchas noted that the tariffs implemented by Trump have raised the U.S. tariff rate, in real terms, to a level higher than it was during the Great Depression in the 1930s. In response, major trading partners of the U.S. have also increased their tariffs, contributing to a significant rise in the global tariff rate. As a result, global trade, which has consistently supported growth rates and kept inflation in check for the past 35 years, is expected to grow this year at only half the rate that the Fund anticipated just three months ago.
The latest World Economic Outlook was compiled under “exceptional” circumstances, the IMF stated. Trump’s announcement of sweeping tariffs on April 2 “forced us to abandon our projections, which were nearly finalized at that point,” it noted.
