Smartphones, computers exempt from Trump's latest tariffs

Electronics imported to the United States will be exempt from President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, according to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection notice posted late Friday.

Smartphones, computer monitors and various electronic parts are among the exempted products. The exemption applies to products entering the United States or removed from warehouses as early as April 5, according to the notice.

The exemption, which comes after the Trump administration imposed a minimum tariff rate of 145% on Chinese goods imported to the United States on Wednesday, does not include the previous 20% tariff on Chinese goods. The tariff exemption would have a major impact on tech giants like Apple, which make iPhones and other products in China.

Roughly 90% of Apple’s iPhone production and assembly is based in China, according to Wedbush Securities’ estimates.

Analysts at Wedbush on Saturday called the tariff exclusion, “the best news possible for tech investors.”

Counterpoint Research, a firm that monitors global smartphone shipments, estimated Apple has up to six weeks of inventory in the United States. Once that supply runs out, prices would have been expected to go up.

The White House said on Saturday that Trump will continue to urge tech companies to move production to the United States.

Economists have warned the cost of tariffs may ultimately be passed on to the consumer. That fear has sent many Americans rushing to buy big-ticket items, such as cars and electronics, as consumer sentiment has dropped to record lows.

The Trump administration says these tariffs would bring more manufacturing jobs to the United States and reverse a decades-long decline. But some products can’t be easily made or found in the United States, thus increasing the costs to produce them in American factories.

Semiconductors and microchips are among the products heavily outsourced to factories in Asia due to lower costs. Those electronic parts are now exempt, according to the Friday notice. That could help Asian chipmakers, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), South Korea’s Samsung and SK Hynix.