Tech tariff turmoil continues as Trump admin exempts some electronics, then promises to bring taxes back
- Reference: 1744592389
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/04/14/tech_tariff_update/
- Source link:
To understand what's happened in the last couple of days we need to start on April 2nd, the day on which president Trump [1]announced sweeping tariffs on many imported goods. The [2]Executive Order 14257 that proclaimed those tariffs mentioned “semiconductors” as exempt from some tariffs and linked to a 37-page [3]Annex [PDF] that listed goods exempt from tariffs using eight-digit codes spelled out in the [4]Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS).
That document is a 4,400 page behemoth that lists over 10,000 types of goods subject to import duties, organized into headings and subheadings. Each item on the list has a “HTS code”.
The exemptions update
Late on April 11th, US Customs and Border Protection [5]published “further guidance on the additional duties” imposed by the Executive Order 14257 of April 2nd. The document lists 20 HTS codes that are exempt from tariffs.
The Register has compared the list of exemptions in the April 11th guidance to the Annex to Executive Order 14257. We’ve counted nine HTS Codes that weren’t mentioned in the Annex published on April 2nd but are mentioned in the further guidance published on April 11th.
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The codes mentioned in both documents describe semiconductors – as was explained in the Executive Order 14257.
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The nine HTS codes mentioned only in the new guidance include [9]8471 and 8471.30.01, which describe computers and laptops, plus [10]8517.13 which covers smartphones.
[11]HTS code 8542 also made the new list, a notable inclusion as its subheadings cover CPUs, GPUs, systems-on-chips, microcontrollers and memory.
Policy goals vs. policy outcomes
The Trump administration’s policy is to use tariffs on imports as an incentive for businesses to move their manufacturing plants to the USA.
The administration has also made China the main target of its trade policy by imposing its highest rate of tariffs - [12]145 percent on the Middle Kingdom – to address what it believes is China’s unfair trade practices, plus national security issues.
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Another Trump administration priority is controlling inflation and lowering prices. Tariffs on imported goods – at either the 145 percent rate imposed on China, the lower levies on other countries announced but then [14]paused for 90 days, or the administration’s blanket ten percent blanket levy on all imports – won’t help to meet those goals.
Analyst firm IDC’s vice president for devices, Francisco Jeronimo, said the fresh exemptions represent “clear recognition of the economic shock such duties would deliver to American consumers, some of the most popular consumer electronics brands and the broader tech industry.”
“Imposing tariffs on these goods would translate directly into higher retail prices—pushing up inflation, squeezing household budgets, and potentially eroding the global competitiveness of some of America’s most valuable firms,” he added.
[15]
Exempting more goods from tariffs, by contrast, would help to keep prices low and avoid an obviously inflationary influence.
‘Taking out the trash’ Political operatives use the phrase “taking out the trash” to describe announcing controversial news at times when newsrooms are largely empty and audiences aren’t paying attention.
Friday nights are prime time for taking out the trash, and news released at that time can sometimes disappear without making a ripple.
The guidance from US Customs was time-stamped 10:36 PM EDT on April 11th. At the time of writing, the HTML for the White House memo includes a article:published_time meta tag with the value “2025-04-11T16:59:43+00:00”. Some content management systems default to Coordinated Universal Time which is denoted as “+00:00”. If the White House CMS is set to UTC, its announcement was posted at 8:59 PM on Friday night.
Trash, or treasure? You decide.
More tech tariffs coming
On Sunday, President Trump used his Truth Social account to [16]describe reporting of extra exemptions as “Fake News”, and added: “We are taking a look at Semiconductors and the WHOLE ELECTRONICS SUPPLY CHAIN in the upcoming National Security Tariff Investigations.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, in a Sunday appearance on ABC News program This Week, appeared to acknowledge the exemptions on semiconductors and other electronics and [17]said they are not "a permanent exemption" and will again be tariffed under “sectoral tariffs” to be announced in “a month or two”.
Lutnick said the forthcoming tariffs will be part of an effort to "reshore" manufacturing in the interests of national security, and will focus on both semiconductors and medicines.
Zichen Wang, a journalist for Chinese state media who analyzes Beijing in the Pekingology blog, on Sunday [18]pointed to a [19]Q&A between a journalist and China’s Ministry of Commerce, in which an official addressed the exemptions announced on April 11 and described them as a “a small step for the United States to correct its wrong practice” and calls for America to take a “major step” of showing respect for China by removing all reciprocal tariffs.
Wang believes the Q&A is an indicator of an “off-ramp” Beijing is offering the US to end the trade war.
But China has [20]reportedly also banned export of critical minerals and magnets that US industry relies on for many applications. Which doesn't sound like an off-ramp.
[21]China ups tariffs on US goods to 125%, calls Trump's war a 'joke'
[22]Infosec experts fear China could retaliate against tariffs with a Typhoon attack
[23]Fear of tariffs made the PC market great again in Q1 as vendors emptied factories to dodge price future hikes
[24]Trump thinks we can make iPhones in the US just like China. Yeah, right
Secretary Lutnick said he expects Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping “will work this out.”
“I am confident this is going to work out with China.”
IDC’s Francisco Jeronimo isn’t so sure.
“Even for companies actively pursuing diversification, China often remains the primary source for these complex, high-volume products due to the sheer scale and efficiency challenges elsewhere,” he said.
Rebuilding supply chains takes time – sometimes years – and massive investments. Businesses are seldom keen to make those investments in uncertain policy environments, and in the days since April 2nd the USA has made several changes to its tariff regimes.
Remarks by Trump and Lutnick in the wake of the exemptions guidance signal more are coming, and the late Friday changes to deeply technical documents suggest that understanding whatever comes next will require deep dives into HTS codes. ®
Get our [25]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/02/us_tariffs_liberation_day_announcement/
[2] https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/regulating-imports-with-a-reciprocal-tariff-to-rectify-trade-practices-that-contribute-to-large-and-persistent-annual-united-states-goods-trade-deficits/
[3] https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Annex-II.pdf
[4] https://hts.usitc.gov/
[5] https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDHSCBP/bulletins/3db9e55
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Z_yIbVs9Y8CBTdjUR5gsCwAAAUw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z_yIbVs9Y8CBTdjUR5gsCwAAAUw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z_yIbVs9Y8CBTdjUR5gsCwAAAUw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://hts.usitc.gov/search?query=8471
[10] https://hts.usitc.gov/search?query=8517.13
[11] https://hts.usitc.gov/search?query=8542
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/09/eu_tariffs/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z_yIbVs9Y8CBTdjUR5gsCwAAAUw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/09/eu_tariffs/
[15] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z_yIbVs9Y8CBTdjUR5gsCwAAAUw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[16] https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114332337028519855
[17] https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/commerce-secretary-lutnick-tariff-exemptions-electronics-temporary/story?id=120752319
[18] https://www.pekingnology.com/p/china-offers-off-ramp
[19] https://www.mofcom.gov.cn/xwfb/xwfyrth/art/2025/art_be027dda06e94399b13be28edc8e0e59.html
[20] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/13/business/china-rare-earths-exports.html
[21] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/11/china_tariffs_latest/
[22] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/10/trade_war_reaches_cyberspace/
[23] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/10/q1_2025_pc_shipments_tariffs/
[24] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/09/iphones_manufacture_unlikely_in_us/
[25] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: US companies did this to us
To play Devil's advocate, ...
Companies did what companies do: Maximize profit. It can be manufactured cheaper, elsewhere? Lets do that! Elsewhere doesn't have the same environmental or labor restrictions as here? Great, it's cheaper!
The larger the company the greater the offense. As companies mature, they inherently go from a stance of getting new things done (new sources of revenue!) and the investment into those things that is required - and which is often inefficient and wasteful to some extent, wealth redistribution - to one of trimming fat and minimizing undue expenses. As a company matures, it slims down staff, redesigns products to save a few cents here and there. (Use a cheaper LCD screen that has to be mounted upside down? $10/unit? 2000 units? Hardware cost saved is greater than developer cost required!) This trimming makes things unscrutable, unchangeable, and unable to handle things like supply-chain disruptions well, while also resulting in supply-chain and (remote) manufacturer lock-in. (problems with localized knowledge, but that's largely when they shed the expensive design staff in slimming down.)
I counter: it's not the companies, as *all* companies of all types will strive to do this (optimize), but rather policy errors that _allow_ unfavorable practices to be pursued, shifts liabilities to places that don't regulate them, and etc.
Re: US companies did this to us
"Companies did what companies do"
That is what a free market is supposed to do: Make production more efficient so the people can enjoy more food&stuff.
It is called "more wealth", and has made America, how to say it, wealthy.
Re: US companies did this to us
"Our own companies put us in this situation threatening national security to save a few bucks."
No, they made America richer by bringing down costs. The policy you advocate is North Korea's autarky. And North Korea is a permanent showcase what an unmitigated disaster autarky is with its perenial famines.
Economics since Adam Smith and David Ricardo have shown that all wealth originates in trade.
The reason the tariffs are massively backfiring is that home shoring is extremely inefficient and America doesn't even have the people to do it. Nor has it currently the know-how and skilled workforce to do so.
Some 30M of the 110M people employed in Chinese manufacturing are working to produce the stuff Americans buy.
Where does MAGA think they can find 30 million manufacturing workers to replace them when they finally have build the American factories to house them?
But I understand why so many Americans hate international trade: They cannot accept the fact that trade benefits both partners. Somehow, it feels like stealing when the people you buy from also make a profit.*
As for the trade imbalance, as usual, [1]XKCD explains that perfectly .**
* The same feeling American businesses have when they have to pay employees a wage above subsistence minimum.
** With explanation for your benefit.
[1] https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3073:_Tariffs
Re: US companies did this to us
Over this weekend, we saw the UK Government rush through legislation to try to save the two blast furnaces at the British Steel plant in Scunthorpe, when it became apparent the Chinese owners were going to shut them down.
There is a very large contingent of Chinese workers at the plant, who were bought in from China.
The same practice is seen with the Belt and Road initiative. Labour being flown in from China at the expense of the local labour force.
China owns you
Which hole is this?
Trump is clearly making this shit up as he plays through…
Re: Which hole is this?
"Trump is clearly making this shit up as he plays through"
Not really. He has been against trade and in favor of tariffs as a tax income at least since the 1980s. Maybe he once learned to love the tariff policies of Calvin Coolidge et al. (an important factor in the 1930s great depression and WWII).
He seems to be a narcissist and believes all interactions are zero sum. Any benefit, or attention, received by someone else is not received by him. That is stealing what is rightfully his. Tariffs are a natural way to "redress" this "crime".
It is just that he cannot fathom the disastrous outcomes these tariffs have. So he is constantly playing whack-a-mole with the economic horrors that surface because of the tariffs.
But in good psychopath style, he never learns and keeps imposing new, or old, tariffs when the previous emergency is gone. And playing whack-a-mole again.
I expect he will not stop until Congres somehow stops him. Or the US economy collapses and Americans are unable to import stuff anyway.
US companies did this to us
Our own companies put us in this situation threatening national security to save a few bucks. Our govt didn't stop them. Those of us in national security sectors of the govt were labeled cranks and fools when we pointed out what was happening. Undoing this isn't going to be easy, nor cheap, and I frankly don't think many people have the stomach for it.
If Trump hadn't shit on all our allies, we could have tried a cooperative approach with Japan, Germany, France, et al to onshore various segments amongst ourselves over the next several years. The most we can hope for is they do it as we've proven ourselves completely mental and incapable of sanely managing our own affairs.
But, the same forces that helped push us to where we are, are also at work in those countries. Let's hope their citizens learn from our stupidity and change course or else we'll all be in the fascist shitter together.