It will also benefit large tech companies such as Apple and chipmakers such as Samsung and Nvidia, and lay the foundation for a possible tech stock rally on Monday.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection says items such as smartphones, laptops, hard drives, tablet monitors, and some chips will be eligible for exemptions. Machines used to make semiconductors are also excluded. This means they will not be subject to the current 145% tariffs imposed on China or benchmark tariffs elsewhere.
This is the latest tariff change from the Trump administration, which has imposed tariffs on goods in most countries in their massive plan.
The exemption seems to reflect the president’s awareness that his Chinese tariffs are unlikely to shift more manufacturing of smartphones, computers and other gadgets to the U.S., even if the government predicts that the trade war will allow Apple to make iPhones in the U.S. for the first time.
But this is an unlikely situation after Apple established a carefully calibrated supply chain in China. More importantly, building a new factory in the United States will take years and billions of dollars, then face with Apple’s economic power three times the price of iPhone, threatening torpedoes to sell their merchandise products.
Trump’s decision to exempt iPhones and other popular electronic products in China reflects similar relief he gave to these products during the trade war in his first term in the White House. But Trump seems to have begun his second term this time with more widespread tariffs, triggering a collapse in the market value of Apple and other tech powers. The turmoil beat up Tech’s “Magnificent Seven” stocks – Apple, Microsoft, Microsoft, Nvidia, Nvidia, Nvidia, Nvidia, Amazon, Amazon, Tesla, Tesla, Google Parents Alphabet and Facebook Parent Meta platforms. From earlier this week, from April 2, when Trump announced widespread tariffs in a wide range of countries, the huge seven-player combined market value fell by $2.1 trillion or 14% earlier this week.
Last Wednesday, Trump stopped tariffs outside China, with a huge $700 million to $644 billion down 4% from April 2. Now, when U.S. stock market trading resumes, Apple could lead to Apple’s largest family, the largest family, a phase that cuts the value of the loss, or drops by 4% starting on April 2.
The exemption of electronic devices should also alleviate consumer concerns that Chinese tariffs will lead to high prices for smartphones and other devices that have become important tools for modern life.
It was a friendly treatment when Apple CEO Tim Cook, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos during his tenure on January 20. United’s faithful display reflects the hope that Trump will be easier to accommodate than President Joe Biden’s administration and help push an already booming industry to a higher level.
Apple won Trump praise in late February when the Cupertino, California, company pledged $500 billion to add 20,000 jobs in the U.S. over the next four years. The promise is a response to Trump’s $350 billion investment commitment in his first semester when his iPhone was exempted from Chinese tariffs.
The move gradually fades away “the huge black cloud overhang is currently under pressure in the technology field and large U.S. technology,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a research note.
Neither Apple nor Samsung responded to Saturday’s request for comment. Nvidia declined to comment. The White House did not immediately respond to Saturday’s request for comment.
