Smartphones and computers will be exempted from Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, according to new guidelines issued by US Customs and Border Protection.
In a major move, Donald Trump’s government has announced exemption of smartphones, computers and other electronics from reciprocal tariffs. This development will benefit electronics giants including Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. According to a Bloomberg report, the exclusions were announced late Friday by the US Customs and Border Protection.
As per the new guidelines, other electronic devices and components, including semiconductors, solar cells, flat panel TV displays, flash drives, memory cards and solid-state drives used for storing data are also excluded from tariffs.
Big relief for Apple!
The revised guidelines are a big relief for companies like Apple, which makes iPhones and most of its other products in China. Earlier this month, Trump had imposed 125 per cent tariffs on products from China. This decision heavily impacted the tech giants.
90-day pause on “reciprocal tariffs”
Earlier this week, the White House announced a 90-day pause on “reciprocal tariffs” for most countries except China, which in turn decided to impose 125 per cent tariffs on US imports. China on Friday upped its additional tariff on US goods to 125 per cent, retaliating to America’s 145 per cent levy even as President Xi Jinping urged the European Union to “jointly resist the unilateral bullying” by Washington.
Announcing an additional 125 per cent tariff, China’s Customs Tariff Commission said, “Even if the US imposes higher tariffs, it would no longer make economic sense and ultimately go down as a joke in world economic history. Given that it’s already impossible for the Chinese market to accept US imports at the current tariff level if the United States imposes further tariffs on Chinese products, China will ignore it,” it said.
