Smartphones, computers and chips exempt from Trump tariffs but not for long

Smartphones, laptops and computer components will be exempt from the Trump administration’s latest round of tariffs. The US Customs and Border Protection issued an updated guidance on the reciprocal tariff exclusions for specified products late Friday. Smartphones, laptop computers, monitors, hard drives, memory chips and chipsets will be exempt from the latest round of tariffs, which reached 145% for imports coming from China.

While this is good news for major players like Apple and Nvidia, the exemption may be short-lived. President Trump announced on Sunday that he would be placing new tariffs on semiconductors in the coming weeks, which will include semiconductor chips and smartphones.

The new tariffs will be announced in a “week or two” and will be referred to as “a special focus type of tariff”. According to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the goal of these levies is to bring back smartphone and semiconductor production back to the US - a task that would take a number of years and imply a tremendous price increase for devices with consumers bearing most of the costs. Trump did leave a potential back door for tech giants like Apple, stating that there will be “flexibility with some companies in the sector”.

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