 "(File) US president Donald Trump. AP")
In a major relief to tech companies like Apple, US Customs and Border Protection announced Saturday (April 12) that smartphones and computers won’t be subjected to President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs.
Trump earlier this month increased tariffs on China to a whopping 145 per cent, a move that was seen as a major setback for Apple, which manufactures a lot of products in China, including iPhones.
According to Evercore ISI, Apple manufactures at least 80 per cent of its products in China. China builds 80 per cent of iPads and more than half of Mac computers produced.
Additionally, items like laptops, semiconductors, solar cells, flat panel TV screens, flash drives, memory cards, and solid-state drives used for data storage are also excluded from the additional taxes. So, while many imports are getting hit with higher duties, these tech essentials have been spared—for now.
While these electronic items may be subjected to some additional taxes in the coming days, they would be far lower than the 145% rate that Trump had imposed on goods from China.
Dan Ives, global head of technology research at Wedbush Securities, was quoted as saying by CNBC that the exemptions were “the dream scenario for tech investors.”
“Smartphones, chips being excluded is a game changer scenario when it comes to China tariffs.”
He added that the tariffs have been a “black cloud over tech since the day of liberation, because no sector was going to be more hurt than big tech.”
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More Shorts“I think ultimately big tech CEOs spoke loudly, and the White House had to understand and listen to the situation that this would have been Armageddon for big tech if were implemented,” Ives said.
Within days of Trump’s tariff announcement, Apple has lost approximately $640 billion in market value. After tariffs, the cost of an iPhone would have risen to a staggering $3,500 under some estimates.
It was reported earlier that Apple was booking special cargo flights to ship iPhones from its factories in India to the US to stay ahead of Trump’s tariffs.
Since March, Apple has flown around 600 tonnes of iPhones — that’s up to 1.5 million phones — straight from India, after boosting production there, Reuters reported.
Trump had announced a 27 per cent tariff on Indian imports, but that’s been put on hold for now.