Trump spares tech from his 125% China tariffs

Bangkok Post Group

The U.S. government has granted tariff exclusions for smartphones, computers and other electronics imported largely from China, sparing them from President Donald Trump's steep 125% reciprocal duties. - REUTERS

Transcript

00:00President Donald Trump's administration granted exclusions from steep reciprocal tariffs on

00:06smartphones, computers, and some other electronics imported largely from China,

00:11providing a big break to tech companies that rely on imported products.

00:15In a notice to shippers late on Friday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection published a list

00:21of tariff codes excluded from the import taxes retroactive to April 5th, covering 20 broad

00:26product categories such as computers, laptops, disk drives, automatic data processing, and more.

00:32While the White House did not explain the move, a spokesperson said the exclusion only applies to

00:38Trump's reciprocal tariffs on Chinese goods, which climbed to 125 percent this week.

00:44Trump's action also excludes the specified electronics from his 10 percent baseline tariffs

00:49on goods from most other countries, easing import costs for semiconductors from Taiwan and Apple

00:55iPhones produced in India. The president's 20 percent duties on all Chinese imports, which he said

01:02were related to the U.S. fentanyl crisis, remain in place. White House spokesperson Carolyn Levitt said

01:08in a separate statement that Trump has made it clear the U.S. cannot rely on China to manufacture

01:14critical technologies such as semiconductors, chips, smartphones, and laptops. She added that

01:20Trump's direction, major tech firms including Apple and chip makers NVIDIA and Taiwan Semiconductor,

01:27quote, are hustling to onshore their manufacturing in the United States as soon as possible.

01:34The exemptions suggest an increased awareness within the Trump administration of the pain that

01:39his tariffs had in store for inflation-weary consumers, especially on popular products like

01:45smartphones. Analysts predicted that the price of a top-end Apple iPhone could jump to $2,300

01:51from $1,599 with a 54 percent tariff rate. At 125 percent, economists and analysts have said that

01:59U.S.-China trade could largely halt. Earlier this week, financial markets were in turmoil as Trump

02:06announced sweeping reciprocal tariffs on U.S. trading partners. Trump's tariff policies have raised fears

02:12of a U.S. recession and drew criticism from his fellow Republicans.

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