US Customs and Border Patrol published a notice late on Friday explaining the goods would be excluded from Trump's 10% global tariff on most countries and the much larger Chinese import tax. The move comes after concerns from US tech companies that the price of gadgets could skyrocket, as many of them are made in China. The exemptions also include other electronic devices and components, including semiconductors, solar cells and memory cards. The US is a major market for iPhones, while Apple accounted for more than half of its smartphones sales last year, according to Counterpoint Research.
The Trump administration is exempting electronics such as phones, computers and other electronics from the “reciprocal” tariffs imposed on other nations, including China. Guidance posted by Customs and Border Protection, which collects duties on imports, indicated roughly 20 products would be excluded from reciprocal tariffs. Those include smartphones, computers, routers and semiconductor chips. The exemptions could be a break for consumers, who were facing the possibility of paying higher prices on electronics because of steep tariffs imposed on China. It’s also a win for companies like Apple, which manufactures many of its products in China.
In a notice published late Friday night, US Customs and Border Protection issued new guidance on his so-called reciprocal tariffs, which were announced just a week and a half ago and then saw a 90-day pause on most countries but additional hikes on China to a prohibitive 145%. The exemptions includes smartphones, computers, semiconductors, solar cells, flat panel TV displays, flash drives, memory cards and solid-state drives for data storage. That comes after China hiked its own duties on US imports to 125% on Friday but said it would stop retaliating, while Trump signaled he was optimistic about a deal with Beijing, giving investors some hope that their trade war could de-escalate. The exemptions also offer huge relief for US companies like Apple that assemble and import devices in China. The iPhone maker’s shares have been crushed since Trump ramped up tariffs on China.
