Trump adds tariff exemptions for smartphones, computers and other electronic

After more than a week of triumphing tariffs on the products imported from China, the Trump administration issued a rule on Friday night that saved smartphones, computers, semiconductors and other electronic of some of the rates, in a significant break for technological companies such as Apple and DELL and the prices of iPhones and other consumption electrons.

TO message Published Friday night by customs and border protection of the USA. Uu. It included a long list of products that would not face the reciprocal tariffs that President Trump imposed in recent days on Chinese products as part of a commercial war that worsens. Exclusions would also apply to modems, rings, flash units and other technological goods, which are largely carried out in the United States.

Exemptions are not a complete relief. Other rates will still be applied to electronics and smartphones. The Trump administration had applied a 20 percent tariff in Chinese products earlier this year for which the administration said it was the role of the country in the fentanyl trade. And the administration could still end up increasing tariffs for semiconductors, a vital component of smartphones and other electronic.

The movements were the first important exemptions for Chinese products, which would have high -range implications for the US economy if they persist. Technological giants such as Apple and Nvidia greatly avoid punitive taxes that could reduce their profits. Consumers, some of whom rushed to buy iPhones last week, would avoid large price increases in smartphones, computers and other devices. And exemptions could cushion additional inflation and calm the agitation that many economists feared that they could lead to a recession.

The relief of the tariff was also the last Flip-Flop in Trump's effort to rewrite global trade in an attempt to boost the manufacture of the United States. Factories that produce iPhones, laptops and other electronic are deeply rooted in Asia, especially in China, and they are unlikely to move without a galvanization force such as the taxes that the Trump administration had proposed.

“It is difficult to know if there is an understanding within the administration that reworking the US economy is a gigantic effort,” said Matthew Slaughter, dean of the Tuck Business School in Dartmouth.

Electronic exemptions apply to all countries, not only to China.

Even so, any relief for the electronic industry can be short -lived, since the Trump administration is preparing other commercial research related to national semiconductor security. That will also apply to some subsequent products such as electronics, since many semiconductors enter the United States within other devices, said a person familiar with the matter. These investigations have previously resulted in additional rates.

Karoline Leavitt, the White House spokeswoman, said in a statement on Saturday that Trump was still committed to see more of these products and components made nationwide. “President Trump has made it clear that the United States cannot trust China to manufacture critical technologies” and that in their direction, technological companies “are hurried to land in the United States as soon as possible,” he said.

A senior administration official, who talked about a history because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said that Friday's exemptions aimed to maintain the supply of semiconductors in the United States, a fundamental technology used in smartphones, cars, toasters and dozens of other products. Many avant -garde semiconductors are manufactured abroad, as in Taiwan.

Paul Ashworth, the Chief of Economy Economy Economy of North America, said the measure “represents a partial decallation of President Trump's commercial war with China.”

He said that the 20 types of products that were exempt on Friday represent almost a quarter of China's US imports. Other countries in Asia would be even greater winners, he said. If the tariffs of those countries re -enter again, the exemption would cover 64 percent of the American imports of Taiwan, 44 percent of the imports of Malaysia and almost one third of the imports of Vietnam and Thailand, he said.

The changes scored a wild week in which Trump backed up many rates that he presented on April 2, which he had called “day of liberation.” His so -called reciprocal tariffs had introduced taxes that would reach up to 40 percent in the products imported from some nations. After the market and bond markets sank, Trump reversed the course and said he would stop the levies for 90 days.

China was the only exception to Mr. Trump's relief because Beijing decided to retaliate against US tariffs with their own taxes. Instead of stopping Chinese import tariffs, Trump increased to 145 percent and did not show will to prevent any company from those rates. In return, China said Friday that it was increasing its tariffs on US assets to 125 percent.

That sent shares of many technological companies to free fall. For four days of commerce, Apple's valuation, which makes approximately 80 percent of its iPhones in China, fell at $ 773 billion.

For now, Mr. Trump's moderation is a great relief for a technology industry that has spent months accelerating the president. Meta, amazon and several technology leaders donated millions to the inauguration of President Trump, remained behind him while sworn in January and promised to invest billions of dollars in the United States to support him.

Tim Cook, Executive Director of Apple, has been at the forefront of the courtship of the industry to Mr. Trump. He donated $ 1 million to the inauguration of Mr. Trump and then visited the White House to promise that Apple would spend $ 500 billion in the United States in the next four years.

The strategy repeated Mr. Cook's tactics during Mr. Trump's first mandate. To avoid requests for Apple to begin to manufacture its products in the United States instead of China, Mr. Cook cultivated a personal relationship with the president who helped Apple gain exemptions on tariffs for their iPhones, smart watches and laptops.

He had not been clear if Mr. Cook could get a similar break this time, and the rates that Mr. Trump proposed were more severe. As the Trump administration increased its taxes to Chinese products, Wall Street analysts said Apple could have to increase the price of their iphones from $ 1,000 to more than $ 1,600.

The highest pricing threat of iPhone caused some Americans to rush Apple's stores to buy new phones. Others ran to buy computers and tablets that were made in China.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comments.

Apple's iPhone quickly became a symbol of the tit by eye on tariffs with China. On Sunday, the Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick appeared in “Face the Nation” of CBS and said that tariffs would result in an “army of millions and millions of people who screwed small screws to make iPhones” in the United States. Mrs. Leavitt later said in the week that Trump believed that the United States had the resources to do iPhones for Apple.

“Apple has invested $ 500 billion here in the United States,” he said. “Then, if Apple didn't think that the United States could do it, they probably would not have achieved that great change in change.”

Apple has faced questions about how to move an iPhone manufacture to the United States for more than a decade. In 2011, President Obama asked Steve Jobs, co -founder of Apple, which would be needed to make the company's best -selling product in the United States instead of China. In 2016, Trump also pressed Apple to change his position.

Cook has remained firm in its commitment to China and has said that the United States does not have enough manufacturing workers to compete with China.

“In the United States, you could have a meeting of tool engineers, and I'm not sure we could fill the room,” he said in a Conference at the end of 2017. “In China, you could fill multiple soccer fields.”

Additional tariffs on semiconductors and other electronic could reach in the coming weeks or months. The administration has indicated that such tariffs are considering under a legal statute known as section 232, along with other rates on imported pharmaceutical products.

The president has already used the statute to put a 25 percent tariff on imported steel, aluminum and cars, and is weighing similar steps for imported wood and copper. All these sectors received exemptions from the so -called reciprocal tariffs that the president announced on April 2.

Speaking to journalists the next day, the president said that other tariffs on chips “would begin very soon”, adding that the administration was also analyzing tariffs on pharmaceutical products. “We will announce it at some point in the near future,” he said. “It is in review at this time.”

The other rates that the Trump administration has applied through the investigations of section 232 was set at 25 percent, much lower than the 145 percent rate currently in force for many China products.

Maggie Haberman Contributed reports.