US back back and exempt cell phones, computers and chips

United States President Donald Trump turned back once again. Now, he exempted “cell phones, computers and other electronics” to pay extra fees via importeven when it comes to products sent by China.

The update was made by US Customs and Border Protection (BP). The document explicitly highlights that smartphones, notebooks, hard drives, processors and memory chips are exempt from tariffs. The rule also applies to machines used by companies such as TSMC for semiconductor manufacturing.

The US trade war against the rest of the world was quite intense. In an exchange of fierce barbs, China and the USA raised their import rates daily. Last Friday (11), it was defined that products imported from China by the US will pay a rate of 145%.

The measure, of course, did not please major technology companies, including Apple, Intel and Nvidia. Apel, for example, anticipated the tariff and imported six India iPhones loaded to the US, totaling more than 1.5 million smartphone units. In the case of US relationship with other countries, the new rates were suspended for 90 days for “renegotiation”.

The exemption of some specific electronics is just another chapter in this tariff battle, which should extend for many weeks. Sector experts believe the US has decided to exempt because these products are not locally manufactured and would take a long time until it establishes a similar production line in the country.

It is also worth remembering that video games, such as Nintendo Switch 2, are not contemplated by this exemption. Nintendo would open the pre-sale of its new console on April 9, but decided to postpone the start of indefinite commercialization to assess whether to make any prices adjustment.

Fonte: Bloomberg