Trump excludes smartphones, computers, chips from tariffs
Category: Stock Market & Investments
Via: bob-nelson • 4 days ago • 6 commentsBy: Wes Davis (The Verge)
The Trump administration has updated its guidance on tariffs to exclude popular consumer tech,
including that imported from China, like smartphones and laptops.
D'ya think Tim Cook had anything to do with this latest 180°??
Wanna bet that TVs will also be excluded? Ya know, all the cheap stuff from China. 
There are links in the seed.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Late last night, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) updated its guidance to exempt smartphones, laptops, hard drives, computer processors, and memory chips from the tariffs, according to Bloomberg . The same goes for the machines used by companies like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to make semiconductors, the outlet notes. The update follows Trump's decision to issue a "90-day pause" on higher tariff rates for most countries, while increasing the rate for Chinese imports to 145 percent, the same day they went into effect.
It's been expected that the tariffs — particularly those on China — would mean price hikes on the most popular tech products in the US. In some cases it already seemingly has, with Sony appearing to bake the tariffs into the US prices for its newest TVs and OnePlus raising the price of its new smartwatches without saying why.
Other companies have appeared reluctant to rock the boat while they wait for Trump's chaotic trade war maneuvers to settle down. For instance, Nintendo delayed US preorders for the Switch 2 but has stayed committed to its $449.99 launch price, while Apple reportedly rushed to import 600 tons of iPhones from India before the tariffs went into effect this week.
Tech manufacturers aren't necessarily out of the woods yet, as Bloomberg notes that the CBP's "exclusions stem from the initial order, which prevented extra tariffs on certain sectors from stacking cumulatively on top of the country-wide rates." The outlet suggests that, instead, Trump could be preparing specific tariffs for portions of the tech sector.
Whatever
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Some time ago, I seeded a review of a mini PC, which TPTB quickly deleted because TPTB didn't know the difference between a review and advertising.
Mini PCs are interesting because, while keeping close to the 4" x 4" original size, there is now a wide variety of capabilities from a dozen companies, from entry level machines at just $ 150, to high-powered gaming rigs at $ 1 000.
They are ALL made in Schenzhen. I have a mid-range - I don't game but I'm on the computer a lot. A little under $ 300, but recovering the disk drives (there's an SSD and an old-fashioned spinner) from a previous machine.
Probably the first of many exemptions.
I think the original shock has already had its effects that do not bode well for America even if "His Majesty" withdraws his commands.
He didn't cancel anything. He "paused" some things. In three months, the nonsense begins again.
You would think that he, of all possible presidents - or his billionaire friends - would understand that the biggest thing Business hates is uncertainty.
I think the explanation is that he doesn't care about the consequences. He struts. He preens.
That's important to him. Nothing else.