U.S. President Donald Trump speaks, ahead of signing executive orders, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 9, 2025.
Nathan Howard | Reuters
President Donald Trump exempted smartphones, computers, and other tech devices and components from his reciprocal tariffs, new guidance from U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows.
The guidance, issued late Friday evening, comes after Trump earlier this month imposed 145% tariffs on products from China, a move that threatened to take a toll on tech giants like Apple, which makes iPhones and most of its other products in China.
The guidance also includes exclusions for other electronic devices and components, including semiconductors, solar cells, flat panel TV displays, flash drives, and memory cards.
The White House said on Saturday the exemptions were made because Trump wants to ensure that companies have time to move production to the U.S.
White House deputy press secretary Kush Desai said in a statement that Trump “has made it clear America cannot rely on China to manufacture critical technologies such as semiconductors, chips, smartphones, and laptops.”
“At the direction of the President, these companies are hustling to onshore their manufacturing in the United States as soon as possible,” Desai said.
The 20 product categories listed in the CBP guidelines are apparently exempt from the 125% tariff imposed by Trump on Chinese imports and the 10% baseline tariff on imports from other countries. A 20% tariff on all Chinese goods remains in effect.
CNBC has asked the White House and CBP to confirm the total effective tariff rate on the exempted products but so far has received no definitive answer.
The exemptions are a win for tech companies like Apple, which makes the majority of its products in China. The country manufactures 80% of iPads and more than half of Mac computers produced, according to Evercore ISI.
“This is the dream scenario for tech investors,” Dan Ives, global head of technology research at Wedbush Securities, told CNBC. “Smartphones, chips being excluded is a game changer scenario when it comes to China tariffs.”
He added that the tariffs have been a “black cloud over tech since the day of liberation, because no sector was going to be more hurt than big tech.”
“I think ultimately big tech CEOs spoke loudly, and the White House had to understand and listen to the situation that this would have been Armageddon for big tech if were implemented,” Ives said.
In the days since Trump’s tariff announcement, Apple lost over $640 billion in market value, CNBC previously reported. The cost of an iPhone under Trump’s tariff plan could have ballooned to as high as $3,500 under some estimates.
Since Trump’s tariffs announcement, stocks have sold off sharply as uncertainty and volatility on Wall Street spiked. The S&P 500 plunged more than 5% during the period until Friday’s close.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield soared more than 50 basis points during the week, one of its largest jumps on record, as the whiplash from Trump’s trade policy led investors to sell off U.S. assets.
The bond market’s move higher may have forced the White House’s hand into some reversals, including a 90-day tariff reprieve on most countries in favor of a universal 10% rate announced Wednesday — excluding China.
The items excluded from Trump’s reciprocal tariffs under the new guidelines are retroactive for products that have left the warehouse by April 5, 2025. This provides clarity and financial planning for the U.S. shipper, who is responsible for paying the tariff once it arrives weeks later at U.S. Customs for processing and release.
