5 days Ago By Bradly Shankar
Major tech companies like Apple and Nvidia are grappling with mixed messaging over the U.S. government’s sweeping global tariffs.
On April 11, the Trump administration said that some electronics , like smartphones, computers, hard drives and flat-panel monitors, will be given exemption from its recently announced “reciprocal” tariffs on China. However, all video game consoles, including the Nintendo Switch 2 , are excluded from this exemption as they’re classified as “toys.” But that latter point is particularly noteworthy as it highlights the general chaos and confusion surrounding the Trump administration’s ever-changing economic policies.
This was only exacerbated when Trump made an April 13 post on his Truth Social platform stating that “nobody” is getting a tariff “exception,” with companies like electronics manufacturers simply being moved to a different tariff “bucket.” Separately, U.S.
officials have also indicated there will be a “semiconductor tariff” on electronics. On Truth Social, Trump also promised to launch a national security trade investigation into the semiconductor sector and the “whole electronics supply chain.” He once again claimed that countries like China have been holding the U.
S. “hostage” with their economic policies. This comes after months of Trump expressing his intent to pressure companies to move production away from such foreign countries and into the U.
S. However, analysts have noted that the added costs and logistical challenges surrounding this would be unfeasible. For example, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives estimated to The Associated Press that Apple would need to spend billions of dollars and at least several years to pivot from Chinese to domestic production, as well as raise the roughly US$1,000 (about C$1,400) cost of the iPhone to as much as US$3,000 (about C$4,100) or US$4,000 (about C$5,500).
It remains to be seen what else might come out of the U.S.’ ever-evolving tariffs strategy.
Via: The Guardian , Bloomberg.
