The US government has excluded certain electronic uses of the special tariffs against numerous countries-including China. As can be seen from a message from the customs and border protection authority CBP, the taxes do not apply to smartphones, laptops, hard drives and memory chips. The authority relies on a memorandum by US President Donald Trump on Friday (April 11). So far, the White House has not published this memorandum itself.
USA: Could be a grace period
The exception is particularly important for electronics from China-many devices, such as from US tech corporations such as Apple, are manufactured there. While Trump had initially rowed back to most trading partners and had temporarily suspended parts of the additional taxes for 90 days, he had significantly tightened the course compared to Beijing. The United States is now demanding additional tariffs of 145 percent on imports from China, Beijing in turn wants to raise 125 percent on US goods.
According to US media, however, it could only be a mercy period, since Trump has already announced that it has announced certain industries with additional tariffs.
