Topics: Donald Trump, Tariffs, China, Apple, Technology, News, Business, World News
The Trump administration has announced a huge change to its proposed tariff plan.
The US has been embroiled in a trade war with the rest of the globe since Trump's so-called 'Liberation Day' at the beginning of the month, with China being the worst affected.
Some countries had their own personalized tariff hikes; however, all but China are now facing 10 per cent levies on goods imported into the US. These 10 per cent tariffs have since been paused for 90-days.
The same can't be said for China, though, as Trump has increased its tariffs on several occasions amid the ongoing back-and-forth between the two countries.
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On Wednesday (April 9), Trump announced that he was imposing 125 per cent taxes on Chinese exports, on top of the 20 per cent he'd already put in place.
In retaliation, China has announced that it's imposing its own 125 per cent tax on US exports. Beijing’s State Council Tariff Commission said of the decision yesterday, as per Aljazeera: "The US’s imposition of abnormally high tariffs on China seriously violates international trade rules, basic economic laws and common sense."
The tit-for-tat approach between the two countries has caused chaos in the stock market and left people fearing that their everyday items will dramatically surge in price — iPhones in particular.
While Apple is an American company, as much as 80 per cent of its iPhones intended for US sale are made in China, says BBC.
With these concerns in mind, the Trump administration quietly announced late last night (April 11) that smartphones, computers and other certain products will be exempt from the hiked tariffs, including Chinese goods.
US Customs and Border Patrol published a notice to say that many tech devices and components will be exempted from reciprocal tariffs imposed by Trump, CNBC reports.
Other exempt devices include semiconductors, solar cells, flat panel TV displays, flash drives, and memory cards.
The move has been praised by tech and business experts. Dan Ives, global head of technology research at Wedbush Securities, told CNBC: "This is the dream scenario for tech investors. Smartphones, chips being excluded is a game-changer scenario when it comes to China tariffs."
Ives went on: "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."
Before Trump's apparent change of heart, Apple were flying planes filled with iPhones over to the US in a bid to beat the hikes, Axios reported; but its CEO Tim Cook (and consumers) will now be able to breathe a sigh of relief.
It isn't clear if these items will be exempt from Trump's tariffs indefinitely.
