NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Trump administration said late Friday it would remove electronic devices such as smartphones and laptops from mutual tariffs.
It also benefits large companies like Apple and Samsung and chip makers like Nvidia, setting the stage for a tech stock rally on Monday.
US Customs and Border Protection said items such as smartphones, laptops, hard drives, flat panel monitors and some chips qualify for exemptions. The machines used to create semiconductors are also excluded. This means that it will not be subject to the current 145% tariffs imposed on China or the 10% baseline tariffs elsewhere.
This is the latest tariff change by the Trump administration, making several U-turns with a massive plan to introduce tariffs on goods from most countries.
The exemption appeared to reflect the perception that his Chinese tariffs would soon shift the production of smartphones, computers and other gadgets to the US despite the administration’s prediction that the trade war would produce the first time the iPhone would be made in the US, but he was unlikely to immediately shift the production of smartphones, computers and other gadgets.
But that was an unlikely scenario after Apple built a finely tuned supply chain in China for decades. Additionally, it takes years and billions of dollars to build new plants in the US, and then it has faced Apple with economic forces that could triple the price of the iPhone, threatening torpedo sales of marquee products.
Trump’s decision to exempt iPhones and other popular electronic devices made in China reflects similar relief that he gave those products during his first term in the White House trade war. But this time, Trump launched his second period, which appears to be determined to impose tariffs more broadly, causing a meltdown in the market value of Apple and other technological powers.
The confusion has hit Tech’s “Magnificent Seven” stocks, including Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, Tesla, Google Parent Alphabet and the Facebook Parent Meta platform. At one point earlier this week, $2.1 trillion (14%) fell sharply from April 2, when Trump announced sweeping tariffs across a wide range of countries, combining market values with the epic Seven.
Some of the losses were eased this Wednesday, when Trump suspended tariffs outside China, cutting a spectacular $7-644 billion lost value from April 2nd, reducing its 4%.
Also, the electronics exemption should alleviate consumer concerns that China’s tariffs will lead to significant price increases on smartphones and other devices that have become an integral tool in modern life.
This is the friendly treatment the industry had thought when Apple CEO Tim Cook, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos gathered behind the president during his January 20th in office. That unified footy display reflected the hopes of big technology that Trump is kinder than President Joe Biden’s administration, and helped push the already booming industry to even higher heights.
Apple won praise from Trump in late February when Cupertino, California, pledged to invest $500 billion over the next four years and add 20,000 jobs. The pledge was an echo of a $350 billion investment commitment made by Apple during Trump’s first term when the iPhone was exempt from Chinese tariffs.
The move removes “a huge black cloud overhang that is bigger than the pressure we face for now, with the high-tech sector and our big technology.”
Neither Apple nor Samsung responded to requests for comment on Saturday. Nvidia declined to comment. The White House did not immediately respond to Saturday’s request for comment.
According to May Anderson and Michael Lietke. Liedtke was a contribution from Berkeley, California.
