Apple CEO Tim Cook [left] with Donald Trump [right] at a Mac Pro factory
In a surprise announcement extremely late on Friday night, President Trump has exempted smart phones, computers, and chips from the so-called reciprocal tariffs, sparing Apple and others billions in import fees.
The exclusions published near midnight eastern time grant exemptions to products that would take years to develop in the US. Apple is greatly helped by the exemptions, with much of Apple’s product line now exempt from the 145% tariff applied.
Almost the entirety of Apple’s product line is now exempt from the enhanced tariffs. Computers, smartphones, flat panel TVs and monitors, flash memory, DRAM, and other storage like hard drives are exempt for the time being.
And, the exemptions go beyond completed hardware. Imports of silicon chips are now exempt, and also exempt are the fabrication machinery needed to make semiconductors.
The order applies to the initial 10% and the follow-up orders after China applied their own tariffs, but it has an odd specificity. The exclusion order is downstream of the initial order, leaving open the possibility of a new tariff on these products.
So far, on Saturday morning, the White House is quiet.
Trump and China have been in a tit-for-tat tariff battle, with each raising their respective tariffs in response to the other’s actions. While Trump started the hikes, he also raised the tariff on Chinese imports again to 145% after China raised its rates on imports from the US.
On Friday, China responded by declaring it would raise its tariff on U.S. goods imports from 84% to 125%. However, China also made it clear that it didn’t intend to raise tariffs more, even if the U.S. did so, but it would still enact some form of countermeasures.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump is “optimistic” that the U.S. and China could strike a tariff deal. “The president has made it very clear he’s open to a deal with China,” Leavitt told the media.
There does not appear to have been any negotiations with the Chinese government overnight. After-hours trading has not yet been impacted by the order.
