On April 2, President Donald Trump laid out his list of reciprocal tariffs on countries, causing a global economic panic and sending stock markets across the planet into the red. A week later, on April 9, he announced a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs for many of the countries on the list that didn't increase their tariffs on the U.S.
This pause gave some relief to companies worldwide that trade with the U.S. and are based in those countries, or who manufacture their products in a place like Vietnam, which was looking down the barrel of a 46% tariff. Gamers in the U.S. were especially worried, as there were concerns that the price of the recently announced Nintendo Switch 2 would jump due to the tariffs after the company halted pre-orders.
Late Friday evening, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection published a list of goods that would be excluded from the new tariffs. This list is primarily tech, such as smartphones, laptops, computer processors, memory, and hard drives. There was also a significant number products related to the manufacturing of semiconductors that were also included on the list.
What tech is being excluded from tariffs?
Here's a list of the products that won't be hit with tariffs based on the U.S. Customs' list:
- Computers and related devices
- Computer parts
- Semiconductor manufacturing equipment
- Smartphones
- Networking equipment
- Solid-state storage
- Recorded media
- Computer monitor
- Low-power transistors
- Other transistors
- Thyristors and triacs
- Other diodes
- Optocouplers
- Other semiconductors
- Semiconductor transducers
- Integrated circuits
- Parts of semiconductor devices
Tech isn't out of the woods yet.
While this reprieve may give tech companies like Apple and Samsung a sigh of relief, it's unclear whether this will be the end of worry over tariffs.
On Sunday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told ABC News that those products being excluded from tariffs is temporary. It's unclear if Lutnick was referring to only semiconductors or all the consumer tech that was on the list, since in the interview he continued to refer to semiconductors.
Trump took to Truth Social on Sunday, reaffirming that no one is getting a break on tariffs.
There was no Tariff “exception” announced on Friday," he wrote. "We are taking a look at Semiconductors and the WHOLE ELECTRONICS SUPPLY CHAIN in the upcoming National Security Tariff Investigations. "
Computer manufacturers such as Dell, Lenovo, and HP reportedly halted shipments of their computers earlier in the week, according to TechSpot. To beat the rush of tariffs, some companies went so far as to quickly ship a lot of their product from China.
These companies are feeling the pressure from the tariffs put on China, which has jumped to a shocking 145%. China, in turn, increased its tariffs on the U.S. in retaliation to 125%. Trump reportedly requested that Chinese President Xi Jinping call him about the tariffs.
