US President Donald Trump’s administration has exempted smartphones and computers from reciprocal tariffs, including the 125% levies imposed on Chinese imports.
US Customs and Border Patrol published a notice late on Friday explaining the goods would be excluded from Trump’s 10% global tariff on most countries and the much larger Chinese import tax.
The move comes after concerns from US tech companies that the price of gadgets could skyrocket, as many of them are made in China.
The exemptions, backdated to 5 April, also include other electronic devices and components, including semiconductors, solar cells and memory cards.
This is the first significant exemption of any kind in Trump’s tariffs on China.
Trump, who is spending the weekend at his Florida home, told reporters on Friday he was comfortable with the high tariffs on China.
“And I think something positive is going to come out of that,” he said, touting his relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
It was not clear whether technology imports from China would still be hit by a 20% tariff that was not part of the reciprocal tariffs announced on 2 April. The BBC has contacted the White House for comment.
Some estimates suggested iPhone prices and other electronic goods in the US would have gone up three times if the costs of the tariffs had been passed on to consumers.
Trump’s move takes off “a huge black cloud overhang for now over the tech sector and the pressure facing U.S. Big Tech”, said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives in a research note, according to the Associated Press.
The US is a major market for iPhones, while Apple accounted for more than half of its smartphones sales last year, according to Counterpoint Research.
It says as much as 80% of Apple’s iPhones intended for US sale are made in China, with the remaining 20% made in India.
Along with fellow smartphone giants such as Samsung, Apple has been trying to diversify its supply chains to avoid over-reliance on China in recent years.
India and Vietnam emerged as frontrunners for additional manufacturing hubs.
As tariffs took effect, Apple reportedly looked to speed up and increase its production of India-produced devices in recent days.
Trump had planned a host of steep tariffs on countries around the world set to go into effect this week.
But on Wednesday, he quickly reversed course, announcing that he would implement a 90-day pause for countries hit by higher US tariffs – except China – whose tariffs he raised to 145%. Trump said the Chinese tariff increase was because of the country’s readiness to retaliate with its own 84% levy on US goods.
In a dramatic change of policy, Trump said all countries that had not retaliated against US tariffs would receive a reprieve – and only face a blanket US tariff of 10% – until July.
The White House then said the move was a negotiating tactic to extract more favourable trade terms from other countries.
Trump has said his import taxes will address unfairness in the global trading system, as well as bring jobs and factories back to American shores.
