Electronics imported into the United States will be exempt from President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, according to a US Customs and Border Protection notice posted late Friday.
Smartphones, computer monitors, and various electronic parts are among the exempted products. The exemption applies to products entering the United States or removed from warehouses as early as April 5, according to the notice.
The decision follows the Trump administration’s imposition of a minimum tariff rate of 145% on Chinese goods imported to the U.S.—a move that would have significantly impacted tech giants like Apple, which manufacture iPhones and other products in China.
Roughly 90% of Apple’s iPhone production and assembly is based in China, according to Wedbush Securities’ estimates.
Analysts at Wedbush on Saturday called the tariff exclusion, “the best news possible for tech investors.”
“Big Tech firms like Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft and the broader tech industry can breathe a huge sigh of relief this weekend into Monday,” Wedbush said in a statement. “A big step forward for US tech to get these exemptions and the most bullish news we could have heard this weekend… now onto the next step in negotiations on the broader China tariff war which will take a number of months at least.”
According to Counterpoint Research, which monitors global smartphone shipments, Apple has up to six weeks of inventory in the United States. Once that supply runs out, prices would have been expected to go up.
President Donald Trump had told reporters Friday on Air Force One that there could be possible exclusions to his sweeping tariffs.
“There could be a couple of exceptions for obvious reasons, but I would say 10% is a floor,” Trump said.
Economists have warned that the cost of tariffs may ultimately be passed on to the consumer. That fear has already driven many Americans to rush to buy big-ticket items, such as cars and electronics, as consumer sentiment has dropped to record lows.
Nintendo said on April 4 that it would postpone the U.S. preorder date of its Switch 2 gaming console to “assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions.” Initially priced at $450, the Switch 2 could instead cost $600 as a result of tariffs, according to experts.
The Trump administration maintains that the tariffs will help bring more manufacturing jobs to the United States and reverse a decades-long decline. However, some products cannot be easily made or sourced domestically, thus driving up production costs in American factories.
Semiconductors and microchips are among the products heavily outsourced to factories in Asia due to lower costs. Those electronic parts are now exempt, according to the Friday notice. That could benefit Asian chipmakers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), South Korea’s Samsung, and SK Hynix.
At a Republican National Congressional Committee event on Tuesday, Trump criticized the Biden administration’s decision to award a $6.6 billion grant to TSMC for semiconductor production in Phoenix as part of the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act. Trump said he gave TSMC no money and told the company “if you don’t build your plant here, you’re going to pay a big tax — 25, maybe 50, maybe 75, maybe 100%.”
