Trump Keeps Backing Down, Exempts Phones and Computers from Tariffs

Donald Trump’s tariff regime keeps getting less and less robust. In the latest backtrack from the Trump administration following the repeated warning of the markets to chill out a bit, the US Customs and Border Protection published guidance late Friday night that introduced new exemptions for smartphones, computers, and other electronics—a major carveout for tech companies that were feeling the crunch. The exemptions, as reported by Bloomberg, include popular devices like iPhones and MacBooks, as well as Android and Windows devices made overseas. It also includes hardware like hard drives, computer processors, memory chips, and graphics cards. Some have noted the exemption does not include video game consoles, which leaves things still pretty up in the air for the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2. Notably, the exemptions apply universally, meaning these items coming into the US will not be subject to the 10% global tariff that currently applies to every nation, nor the 145% tariff tha ... Read full article.