Trump exempts PCs, smartphones, and components from tariffs

The Trump tariffs have eased on many technology products, even those from China, according to a new amended executive order the Trump administration filed Friday night.

The latest order is a “clarification of exceptions” to Trump’s earlier order on April 2, regarding tariffed goods imported to the United States from China. That order raised tariffs on Chinese goods to 125 percent. Those tariffs of 125 percent remain in place, but exempt a broad swath of the PC industry, plus smartphones.

Essentially, it provides relief for PC and component buyers, which has already been plagued by high prices on computers and components.

Specifically, the order exempts several classifications of products found on the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which in turn provides an esoteric textual description pf products imported to the U.S. For example, one of the listed subheadings, 8473.30, includes “parts and accessories” of “automatic data processing machines” like computers. Those “parts and accessories” specifically describe memory modules. (In this case, The Trump order lists the subheading as 847330, excluding the decimal point.)

The list basically includes computers and servers; smartphones; components like motherboards, processors, and memory; monitors; routers and switches; and devices with recorded media upon them, and more. The list also includes category 8542, covering “electronic integrated circuits,” LEDs, and transistors, and machines to produce semiconductors and components.

It appears that Trump has totally withdrawn tariffs on all of these devices, based upon the “exemptions” the order lists. It also appears that these products are exempt from tariffs, no matter their country of origin.

Gaming consoles like the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 do not appear to be included in the exemptions.

The entire list of exceptions can be found at the USITC.gov website. The exemptions include the following categories:

• 8471
• 847330
• 8486
• 85171300
• 85176200
• 85235100
• 8524
• 85285200
• 85411000
• 85412100
• 85412900
• 85413000
• 85414910
• 85414970
• 85414980
• 85414995
• 85415100
• 85415900
• 85419000
• 8542

Trump’s administration was scheduled to apply a chip tariff of 25 percent to chip imports by April 2, but never did. The president later stated that the chip tariffs would go “substantially higher” over the course of a year. Now, who knows?