Huge sigh of relief for Apple, Nvidia, Nintendo and all the electronics manufacturers who were among the most affected by the exorbitant customs duties put in place by the American president.
The tech industry saved from the "tariff" disaster
U.S. Customs published late Friday evening the list of products benefiting from tariff exemptions: smartphones, laptops, Hard drives, processors, and memory chips are affected, as is equipment that makes semiconductor production machines. They will therefore not be subject to the 145% tariffs imposed on China, nor even the 10% global tariffs that apply to all other countries.
This unexpected pause comes a few days after Donald Trump announced last week the suspension of all tariffs, except for the 10% that remain in place for the entire world, and the 145% for Chinese products. A suspension that will last 90 days, and who knows what will happen after that.
Similarly, there's no guarantee that this new pause won't result in new customs tariffs specific to electronic devices. In any case, for American consumers, it's a relief: several manufacturers had indeed started either increasing their prices or simply decided to cancel the sale of certain devices. Nintendo has postponed the launch of pre-orders for the Switch 2, for example.
As for Apple, one of the companies that had the most to lose in this incredible story, it's a real black cloud that has temporarily disappeared from the horizon. Donald Trump wants the iPhone to be made in the United States, but is that even imaginable, and at what cost?
Despite the chaos of the past few days, the Trump administration is not done with its tariffs anyway. An investigation is expected to be launched soon regarding the import of semiconductors, which could lead to specific tariffs.
Source: Bloomberg
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