Late on Friday night, President Trump exempted iPhones, Macs and other electronic devices from hefty tariffs. Turns out, that’s not the case.
The US President clarified that he did not announce a tariff exemption on Friday. Instead, the 20% Fentanyl tariffs will still apply to them, with possibly higher tariffs coming soon.
Nope, Trump did not exempt iPhones and Macs from reciprocal tariffs
Since taking office, President Donald Trump has threatened to slap tariffs on all major manufacturing countries with heavy import tariffs. True to his word, he announced a significant increase in import tariffs last week on goods imported from major Asian manufacturing hubs.
The President eventually backtracked, suspending the reciprocal tariffs for 90 days. China was the only exception, being hit with a hefty 145% tariff. Then, late on April 11, Trump announced what seemed like a tariff exemption for electronic items and semiconductors imported from China. Sadly, that’s not the case.
In a post on Truth Social, the President clarified that no country is getting “off the hook” for its unfair trade practices. More importantly, he did not provide any tariff exceptions on Friday. Electronics, TVs, semiconductors, and flash drives will continue to face a 20% Fentanyl tariff.
The US government is only moving them to a different tariff bucket.
Providing further clarification, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that the US government has only provided electronics items with a temporary relief. These items will be subject to “semiconductor tariffs” set to take effect within a month or two.
Luctnick revealed while speaking to “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl on ABC News, “All those products are going to come under semiconductors, and they’re going to have a special focus type of tariff to make sure that those products get reshored. We need to have semiconductors, we need to have chips, and we need to have flat panels — we need to have these things made in America. We can’t be reliant on Southeast Asia for all of the things that operate for us.”
Apple devices are safe from tariffs…for now
For now, iPhones, Macs and other electronic devices are safe from the 10% global tariffs in the US. However, this will change in the future as the US government decides on a “special-focus” tariff for semiconductors.
Apple stockpiled iPhones before the proposed tariff hike, which would have gone into effect last week. It may do the same over the next 1-2 months until the US government announces a new semiconductor tariff.
