iPhone & Mac tariff reprieve only temporary

AppleInsider

Apple's reprieve from Trump's reciprocal tariffs against Chinese imports of iPhones and Macs is only temporary, as tariffs aimed at semiconductor imports will be arriving within a few months.

Tim Cook and Donald Trump in a meeting at the White House in 2018

Late on Friday, Apple was granted a massive benefit from President Donald Trump, in the form of tariff exemptions applying against imports from China. However, it seems that those exemptions will only be temporary, as other tariffs are on the way.

According to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick speaking to ABC News, it is only a temporary reprieve. While iPhone, iPad, and Mac imports won't be subject to the 145% reciprocal tariff that applies to Chinese imports, Lutnick says a "semiconductor tariff" will be applied instead.

All of the smartphones, computers, and other electronics that benefit from the reprieve will be hit by the semiconductor tariffs, Lutnick confirmed. However, while there is no word on what the actual tariff level will be, Lutnick insists it will arrive "in a month or two."

The commerce secretary explained that the semiconductor tariff is a way to try and make component producers and device manufacturers to set up factories in the United States. Lutnick insisted that the U.S. shouldn't be reliant on Southeast Asia for its electronics.

New tariffs for old

Though the new semiconductor tariffs will apply to Apple's products, it remains to be seen how much lower they will be compared to all other products affected by the reciprocal tariff.

At the moment, the U.S. reciprocal tariff on Chinese imports is at 145%, as part of Trump's tit-for-tat battle with China. China, meanwhile, has a tariff on U.S. goods imports of 125%, rising after each U.S. increase.

China also said it would not raise tariffs further, but warned other countermeasures may be adopted instead.

The battle has caused big problems for Apple investors, who have observed a very turbulent week for the share price. While the tariff break news late on Friday would've given some peace of mind to shareholders, the revelation that more tariffs of an unknown level brings even more uncertainty.



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cpsro

White POTUS on last night's SNL was spot on.

johnnybtrue

Always twisting and turning, tariff changes on a daily basis. Who is actually in charge here???

johnnybtrue

I hate insider trading!!!

stevegee

so ridiculous. just a cursory review of Intel and TSMC’s recent attempts to run chip American fabrication, not to mention Trump’s stated desire to “get rid of” the CHIPS Act which was supposed to supercharge the American semiconductor segment, shows how completely insane this administration’s approach is. 

mikethemartian

Bribes are always temporary until the next payment.

qwerty52

johnnybtrue said:

Always twisting and turning, tariff changes on a daily basis. Who is actually in charge here???

Yes, every tariff change is one before the last one. 😄
And since Apple needs minimum 3 years to move only 10% of its total iPhone production to USA, I am afraid we are going to see a lot of twisting and turnings.

Curious, what about the rest of the 90% iPhones after the 3 years are over?
And what will happen if the US iPhone market is bigger than 10% of the total Apple production?

sitime

How can factory owners decide to buy new equipment with all these constant changes to policy? How can small business owners decide to hire additional workers with all of these constant changes to policy? How can workers decide to change jobs with all of these constant changes to policy? How can parents of children approaching college-age make decisions about their 529 college savings plans with all of these constant changes to policy? How can people approaching retirement age make decisions about whether to move from the equities market to the fixed-income market with all of these constant changes to policy? How can anybody do anything with all of this insanity?!?

applezulu

Now China is halting exports of certain rare earth metals and magnets. They have a monopoly on them, and the US needs them. I'm sure @9secondkox2 ; will tell us how this was all part of Trump's brilliant master plan as well. He has our best interests at heart, and has thought all this stuff through, you know. Don't you fret. Everything's fine.

ravnorodom

Oh brother, the roller coaster ride just started. This is going to be a long painful 4 years of thrill ride.

ravnorodom

My prediction for the next few months:

• Yesterday: Tariff exempt

• Today: Tariff temporarily exempt

• Next week: Tariff permanent

• The following week: Tariff permanent until Christmas

• Next month: Tariff exempt is back — Summer only

• July: Tariff hikes up to 1000%, but only for the 4th of July

• August: Tariff National Holiday is officially established

xed

ravnorodom said:

My prediction for the next few months:

• Yesterday: Tariff exempt

• Today: Tariff temporarily exempt

• Next week: Tariff permanent

• The following week: Tariff permanent until Christmas

• Next month: Tariff exempt is back — Summer only

• July: Tariff hikes up to 1000%, but only for the 4th of July

• August: Tariff National Holiday is officially established

They're already walking back the electronics tariff. They are making huge buys in the market and then telling the media what they need to cause the stocks to go their way. 

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-admin-walks-back-tariff-exemption-on-electronics_n_67fbf396e4b06646ea60b482

glnf

9secondkox2 said:

AppleZulu said:

Now China is halting exports of certain rare earth metals and magnets. They have a monopoly on them, and the US needs them. I'm sure @9secondkox2 ; will tell us how this was all part of Trump's brilliant master plan as well. He has our best interests at heart, and has thought all this stuff through, you know. Don't you fret. Everything's fine.

Pretty sure the current admin is prepared for chin to pull every last one of their cards. The Chinese government is a lethal combination of petulant, proud, and evil. You don’t stir that up unless you’re prepared to do some serious stuff. China is not a free country and is not run by benevolent people. China has a public plan to reshape the world in its image. They need standing up to now more than ever. Tarriffs are small potatoes. 

From where I stand (Europe), what you say sounds equally true for the current US government. „The Trump government is a lethal combination of petulant, proud, and evil. The US in it’s current form is not a free country anymore and is not run by benevolent people. Trump has a public plan to reshape the world for his benefits. He needs standing up to now more than ever.“ I‘m not talking about the american population or culture for witch I have a great admiration. I‘m talking about your current government. It really terrifies me and not in a good way. 

applezulu

At the root of this problem is Mr. Trump’s view of all relationships as transactional. Plus it’s not just that. He believes if you’re not screwing the other guy over, you’re being screwed. That’s why he notoriously routinely stiffed contractors in the building business. 

It’s why he’s stetting tariffs worldwide, even against penguins. His basic assumption is that, lacking obvious evidence that we’re already screwing over each other country, they must be screwing us, so we’d better stick it to them by default. 

In China’s case, there’s certainly evidence that they’re doing things we should actually try to stop. The problem is, by preemptively screwing over everyone else, especially our closest allies and trading partners, the administration has significantly weakened our position and undercut our leverage against China. 

Don’t forget that at the end of the Obama administration, the US was in the final stages of a trade alliance with the entire pacific rim, aligning everyone else with us, apart from China. One of Trump’s first acts was to throw all that out, because Obama couldn’t possibly have gotten a good deal. 

Now he’s done it again, voluntarily pushing our own allies away and toward China. The incompetence and ego-driven stupidity here will cost us for generations to come. 

libertyandfree

SiTime said:

How can factory owners decide to buy new equipment with all these constant changes to policy? How can small business owners decide to hire additional workers with all of these constant changes to policy? How can workers decide to change jobs with all of these constant changes to policy? How can parents of children approaching college-age make decisions about their 529 college savings plans with all of these constant changes to policy? How can people approaching retirement age make decisions about whether to move from the equities market to the fixed-income market with all of these constant changes to policy? How can anybody do anything with all of 

libertyandfree

This massive uncertainty means you do nothing for now and if one has the means to slowing move some production back to the US you start to explore that.  Keep in mind 90% of the tariffs are a means to get to negotiations and during those anything can happen.  It’s only been 2 weeks and people are going crazy where I expect most of these tariffs issues will be resolved over the next few months. 

blastdoor

It sounds like (maybe?) consumer electronics (or at least some) are going to fall under the 'semiconductor' tariff rate ,which is much lower than the 145% China rate. Consumer electronics is also a very big piece of what the US imports from China. 

So that amounts to a pretty big unilateral walk back on the tariff charged on Chinese imports. Will China also walk back some portion of their tariffs? 

bloggerblog

Love that Tim/Trump photo, says it all 

tmay

9secondkox2 said:

AppleZulu said:

Now China is halting exports of certain rare earth metals and magnets. They have a monopoly on them, and the US needs them. I'm sure @9secondkox2 ; will tell us how this was all part of Trump's brilliant master plan as well. He has our best interests at heart, and has thought all this stuff through, you know. Don't you fret. Everything's fine.

Pretty sure the current admin is prepared for chin to pull every last one of their cards. The Chinese government is a lethal combination of petulant, proud, and evil. You don’t stir that up unless you’re prepared to do some serious stuff. China is not a free country and is not run by benevolent people. China has a public plan to reshape the world in its image. They need standing up to now more than ever. Tarriffs are small potatoes. 

In fairness to you, I am very much against China for its human rights violations, authoritarian government, mercantilist trade policy, and threatening military. 

Regrettably, I see the very same issues with the current Trump Administration, though worse, since the Trump Administration has knowingly destroyed America's soft power, and worse, has deprecated many of those scientific and educational assets that has given America a tremendous economic advantage since the end of WWII.

Destroying the U.S. economy is something that I never expected, but, here we are.

WRT rare earths, there is no great shortage of them even in the U.S., though it would require an investment in processing those same rare earths, something that our previous allies, especially Austraia, were interested in as well.

But of course, we have no allies anymore.

charlesn

9secondkox2 said:

AppleZulu said:

Now China is halting exports of certain rare earth metals and magnets. They have a monopoly on them, and the US needs them. I'm sure @9secondkox2 ; will tell us how this was all part of Trump's brilliant master plan as well. He has our best interests at heart, and has thought all this stuff through, you know. Don't you fret. Everything's fine.

Pretty sure the current admin is prepared for chin to pull every last one of their cards. 

Really? So what's the plan to supply our military with essential rare earth magnets now that China has cut off the supply, to say nothing of the other U.S. industries that need them?
What's the plan if China decides to devalue the yuan?
What's the plan, now that Trump has managed to send quakes through the bond market for T-bills, if China decides to start selling the 3/4 of a trillion dollars it holds in U.S. debt? You do realize, don't you, that if we have to pay higher interest on T-bills because investors don't trust America as they once did, it will devastate our economy by exploding the interest we have to pay on our debt?
What's the plan, now that America is the new global supervillain, to prevent China from allying itself more closely with Europe and Southeast Asia since Trump has managed to make China look like more sane and reliable trading partner?
WHAT'S THE PLAN TO EVEN STICK TO A PLAN, since Trump has backtracked, sometimes more than once, on everything announced thus far? Or have you deluded yourself into thinking that this dimwit, id-driven, serial bankruptcy filer who managed to run his casinos into the ground is playing multiverse chess? Because here's the reality of the chess board as it currently stands: Trump and his sycophants are too dumb to realize that they only have one piece left on the board, appropriately a king with no power other than to move a square at a time to avoid checkmate. Xi has an array of powerful pieces he can still play at will, but he'll toy with and humiliate Trump for a while before he moves in to end the game in a win for China. 

edited April 14

danox

tmay said:

9secondkox2 said:

AppleZulu said:

Now China is halting exports of certain rare earth metals and magnets. They have a monopoly on them, and the US needs them. I'm sure @9secondkox2 ; will tell us how this was all part of Trump's brilliant master plan as well. He has our best interests at heart, and has thought all this stuff through, you know. Don't you fret. Everything's fine.

Pretty sure the current admin is prepared for chin to pull every last one of their cards. The Chinese government is a lethal combination of petulant, proud, and evil. You don’t stir that up unless you’re prepared to do some serious stuff. China is not a free country and is not run by benevolent people. China has a public plan to reshape the world in its image. They need standing up to now more than ever. Tarriffs are small potatoes. 

In fairness to you, I am very much against China for its human rights violations, authoritarian government, mercantilist trade policy, and threatening military. 

Regrettably, I see the very same issues with the current Trump Administration, though worse, since the Trump Administration has knowingly destroyed America's soft power, and worse, has deprecated many of those scientific and educational assets that has given America a tremendous economic advantage since the end of WWII.

Destroying the U.S. economy is something that I never expected, but, here we are.

WRT rare earths, there is no great shortage of them even in the U.S., though it would require an investment in processing those same rare earths, something that our previous allies, especially Austraia, were interested in as well.

But of course, we have no allies anymore.

Rare earth materials are all over the Western United States, Mexico, and Canada. There is no shortage. There is just the lack of will, and another problem, many American companies that would pursue the mining of rare earths, don’t want to clean up after themselves they want the American tax payer to do it. 

Building usable infrastructure is also an American problem. The rail system needs maintenance all across the country, and the same applies to road bridges and highways. China ain’t responsible for that, they also are not responsible for throwing Oak Ridge, Tennessee under the bus. 

Nuclear power also isn’t a problem if you clean up after yourself and recognize that you have to put/store the waste material in a responsible manner that goes back to rare earths and mining in general. You just can’t create the mess and then ignore it. 

America’s unwillingness to build new infrastructure has nothing to do with China, the failure of US Steel, Ford, GM (for example over the last 60 years has nothing to do with China, Tesla however, will be run over by modern China and BYD, self improvement is very hard when you spend most of your time blaming other people for your lack of long range thinking/planning and a commitment to the task at hand and the current administration is but a extreme example of exhibit “A” they don’t know which way is up from day to day they are basically just winging it….

On another note just had a 5.2 earthquake in northern San Diego County, earthquakes are monitored by the USGS, a very useful federal agency, which seems to annoy Elon and the current administration of short term thinkers, I’m glad they’re still on the job at least for now.

edited April 14