Smartphones, computers, even China-made, spared from US tariffs
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration has announced a series of major exemptions to its punishing global tariffs -- an apparent step back in an escalating trade war with China.
A notice late Friday by the US Customs and Border Protection office said smartphones, computers and other electronics would be excluded from the import levies President Donald Trump rolled out a week ago.
The move came as retaliatory Chinese import tariffs of 125 percent on US goods took effect Saturday, with Beijing standing defiant against its primary trade competitor.
The exemptions will benefit US tech giants like Apple that make iPhones and other premium products in China, and will generally narrow the impact of the staggering 145 percent tariffs Trump has imposed this year on Chinese goods entering the United States.
Washington and Beijing's escalating tariff battle has raised fears of an enduring trade war between the world's two largest economies and sent global markets into a tailspin.
The fallout has sent particular shockwaves through the US economy, with investors dumping government bonds and the dollar tumbling.
Nevertheless, Trump insisted Friday on his Truth Social platform that "we are doing really well on our tariff policy," even after Beijing announced its latest hike.
Daniel Ives, senior equity analyst at Wedbush Securities, called the US exemptions "the best news possible for tech investors."
"US tariff exclusions will apply to computers, smartphones, and chip-making equipment which takes (away) a huge black cloud overhang for now over the tech sector," he added in a note.
Without these exemptions, he said, "the US Tech industry would be taken back a decade and the AI Revolution thesis would have been slowed significantly."
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