Washington: The United States has excluded certain electronics like smartphones and computers from President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, according to a list of items published by the US Customs and Border Protection late Friday.
The US CBP listed some 20 products, also including semiconductor-based transducers, solid-state storage devices, and flat panel displays.
The exclusions would apply to smartphones, laptop computers, hard drives, computer processors, and memory chips. Those popular consumer electronics items generally aren’t made in the US. Setting up domestic manufacturing would take years.
The products that won’t be subject to Trump’s new tariffs also include machines used to make semiconductors. That would be important for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which has announced a major new investment in the US as well as other chipmakers.
The tariff reprieve may prove fleeting. The exclusions stem from the initial order, which prevented extra tariffs on certain sectors from stacking cumulatively on top of the country-wide rates. The exclusion is a sign that the products may soon be subject to a different tariff, albeit almost surely a lower one for China.
One such exclusion was for semiconductors, to which Trump has regularly pledged to apply a specific tariff. He hasn’t yet done so but the latest exclusions appear to correspond with that exemption. Trump’s sectoral tariffs have so far been set at 25%, though it’s not clear what his rate on semiconductors and related products would be.
