The Trump administration has excluded “smartphones, computers, and other electronics” from tariffs, even those imported from China, reports Bloomberg.
Late last night, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) updated its guidance to exempt smartphones, laptops, hard drives, computer processors, and memory chips from the tariffs, according to Bloomberg. The same goes for the machines used by companies like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to make semiconductors, the outlet notes. The update follows Trump’s decision to issue a “90-day pause” on higher tariff rates for most countries, while increasing the rate for Chinese imports to 145 percent, the same day they went into effect.
It’s been expected that the tariffs — particularly those on China — would mean price hikes on the most popular tech products in the US. In some cases it already seemingly has, with Sony appearing to bake the tariffs into the US prices for its newest TVs and OnePlus raising the price of its new smartwatches without saying why.
Other companies have appeared reluctant to rock the boat while they wait for Trump’s chaotic trade war maneuvers to settle down. For instance, Nintendo delayed US preorders for the Switch 2 but has stayed committed to its $449.99 launch price, while Apple reportedly rushed to import 600 tons of iPhones from India before the tariffs went into effect this week.
Tech manufacturers aren’t necessarily out of the woods yet, as Bloomberg notes that the CBP’s “exclusions stem from the initial order, which prevented extra tariffs on certain sectors from stacking cumulatively on top of the country-wide rates.” The outlet suggests that, instead, Trump could be preparing specific tariffs for portions of the tech sector.
