In case the continuously evolving tariff news hasn’t been confusing enough, there’s now another twist to the story. According to the Trump administration, the exemption from the 125% reciprocal tariff is only temporary, and a tariff will apply to smartphones, laptops, and more in “a month or two.”
On Friday night, the US Customs and Border Protection published some exclusions for Trump’s new 125% reciprocal tariff on China, as well as the baseline 10% global tariff. These exclusions include “smartphones, laptop computers, hard drives and computer processors and memory chips.”
It’s worth noting that Apple still would’ve been subject to a 20% “fentanyl tariff”, which President Trump emphasized in a post on Truth Social today. In short: the total tariff on China specifically would’ve been 145% (125% reciprocal + 20% fentanyl) – but now it’s just 20%.
However, the exemption from the reciprocal tariff isn’t a “permanent sort of exemption”, according to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. In an interview with ABC News, he said that the tech sector would be subject to a “special focus type of tariff” (via The Verge).
Lutnick emphasized that this “special focus type of tariff” would include products like the iPhone. Trump echoed a similar sentiment on Truth Social, where he said that the administration would be “taking a look at” semiconductors and the “whole electronics supply chain” in an upcoming tariff investigation.
So… I suppose the ultimate conclusion for now is that a special tech tariff will be determined at a later date. Ideally it’d be less than the 125% “reciprocal tariff.” We’ll find out in a month or two.
Realistically, any tariff on China probably means Apple will shift US imports to India and Vietnam as much as possible. Recent Mac models, like the M4 MacBook Air and M3 Ultra Mac Studio, have been manufactured in Vietnam. However, we have no real insight on the level of capacity outside of China. It might not be viable for every Apple product sold in the US to be manufactured outside of China.
Things will ideally turn out alright, but I wouldn’t wait and see. If you need a new Apple product, you should buy it now. Nobody will be “off the hook” from tariffs, according to Trump.
My favorite Apple accessories on Amazon:
Follow Michael: X/Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
