WASHINGTON/WEST PALM BEACH, Florida — US President Donald Trump’s administration granted exclusions from steep reciprocal tariffs to smartphones, computers and some other electronics imported largely from China, providing a big break to tech firms like Apple that rely on imported products.

In a notice to shippers, the US Customs and Border Protection agency published a list of tariff codes excluded from the import taxes, with retroactive effect from 12:01 a.m. EDT (0401 GMT) on April 5.

It featured 20 product categories, including the broad 8471 code for all computers, laptops, disc drives and automatic data processing. It also included semiconductor devices, equipment, memory chips and flat panel displays.

The notice gave no explanation for the move, but the late-night exclusion provides welcome relief to major technology firms such as Apple AAPL.O, Dell Technologies DELL.N and many other importers.

Mr. Trump’s action also excludes the specified electronics from his 10% “baseline” tariffs on goods from most countries other than China, easing import costs for semiconductors from Taiwan and Apple iPhones produced in India.

Asked on Saturday about his reasoning for the exemptions and plans for semiconductors, Mr. Trump told reporters on Air Force One: “I’ll give you that answer on Monday. We’ll be very specific on Monday … we’re taking in a lot of money, as a country, we’re taking in a lot of money.”

Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives called the announcement “the most bullish news we could have heard this weekend.”

“There is still clear uncertainty and volatility ahead with these China negotiations…. Big Tech firms like Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft and the broader tech industry can breathe a huge sigh of relief this weekend into Monday,” Mr. Ives said in an industry note.

Many tech company CEOs have embraced Mr. Trump as he begins his second term, attending his Jan. 20 inauguration in Washington and celebrating with him afterward. Apple CEO Tim Cook hosted a pre-inaugural ball and has visited Mr. Trump at his home in Florida.

For the Chinese imports, the exclusion only applies to Mr. Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which climbed to 125% this week, according to a White House official. Mr. Trump’s prior 20% duties on all Chinese imports that he said were related to the US fentanyl crisis remain in place.

But the official said Mr. Trump would launch a new national security trade investigation into semiconductors soon that could lead to other new tariffs.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that Trump has made clear the US cannot rely on China to manufacture critical technologies such as semiconductors, chips, smartphones and laptops.

But she said that at Mr. Trump’s direction, major tech firms, including Apple and chipmakers Nvidia NVDA.O and Taiwan Semiconductor 2330.TW “are hustling to onshore their manufacturing in the United States as soon as possible.”

TARIFF PAIN
The exemptions suggest an increasing awareness within the Trump administration of the pain his tariffs could inflict on inflation-weary consumers.

Even at a lower 54% tariff rate on Chinese imports, analysts predicted the price of a top-end Apple iPhone could jump to $2,300 from $1,599. At 125%, economists and analysts have said US-China trade could largely halt.

Smartphones were the top US import from China in 2024, totaling $41.7 billion, while Chinese-built laptops were second, at $33.1 billion, according to US Census Bureau data.

Apple recently chartered cargo flights to ferry 600 tons of iPhones, or as many as 1.5 million, to the US from India, after it stepped up production there in an effort to beat Mr. Trump’s tariffs, Reuters reported on Friday.

Mr. Trump campaigned to win back the White House last year largely on a promise to bring down prices that, fueled by inflation that tarnished the economic reputation of former President Joe Biden and his Democratic allies.

But Mr. Trump also promised to impose the tariffs that have become central to his economic agenda, and he has dismissed turbulence in financial markets and price increases from the levies as a disturbance necessary to realign the world trading order as he has envisioned.

His so-called “reciprocal tariffs,” however, raised fears of a US recession and drew criticism from some Republicans, who do not want to lose control of Congress in next year’s mid-term elections to Democrats, who have attacked Mr. Trump’s policies.

Mr. Trump delayed higher duty rates for 57 trading partners and the European Union last week, leaving most countries with a 10% tariff as they seek to negotiate trade deals with Washington.

The US president, who is spending the weekend at his residence in Florida, told reporters on Friday he was comfortable with the high tariffs on China but had a good relationship with President Xi Jinping and believed something positive would come out of the trade conflict between them.

Financial markets were in turmoil again on Friday as China matched Mr. Trump’s latest tariff increase on US imports to 125%, raising the stakes in a trade war threatening to upend global supply chains.

US stocks ended a volatile week higher, but the safe haven of gold hit a record high during the session and benchmark US 10-year government bond yields posted their biggest weekly increase since 2001 alongside a slump in the dollar, signaling a lack of confidence in the US. — Reuters

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s administration wants to strike 90 trade deals in 90 days, but the challenges to quickly resolving the president’s trade war are already apparent.

European Union trade chief Maros Sefcovic will on Monday be among the first foreign trade officials to come to Washington for urgent negotiations about the steep tariffs that Mr. Trump announced on April 2. The bloc is among the biggest US trade partners with nearly $1 trillion in two-way trade last year.

But when Mr. Sefcovic arrives, Mr. Trump’s top tariff negotiator, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, will be in Buenos Aires to show support for Argentina’s economic reforms rather than in Washington, even though Argentina accounts for a mere $16.3 billion in total annual trade with the US

Mr. Bessent’s absence on Monday highlights doubts among trade experts about how effectively the administration can manage so many simultaneous negotiations and the overall prospects for reaching 90 deals in 90 days.

“Teeing up these decisions is going to take some serious negotiations,” said Wendy Cutler, a former US Trade Representative (USTR) chief negotiator who heads the Asia Society Policy Institute. “There’s no way during this timeframe we’re doing a comprehensive agreement with any of these countries.”

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro countered on Fox Business Network on Friday that Mr. Bessent, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick could accomplish the job.

“So we’re going to run 90 deals in 90 days. It’s possible,” he said.

Ultimately, Mr. Trump, “the boss, is going to be chief negotiator. Nothing is done without him looking very carefully at it,” Mr. Navarro said.

Mr. Trump started the 90-day countdown clock this week when he paused implementing his higher tariffs for many countries after financial markets went into a tailspin over fears of recession and inflation, among other factors. He said the 90-day pause would allow countries to reach bilateral deals with the US.

Regaining the confidence of financial markets is another critical objective during the 90 days. Investors sold US Treasury debt this week, spiking interest rates and sending the dollar lower amid fears of a US recession and resurgent inflation. Gold, a haven for investors in times of crisis, hit a record high.

Ms. Cutler said this turmoil would put pressure on the Trump team for some quick wins.

“The onus is going to be on them to show that they can quickly conclude agreements with countries, and instill some confidence in the market and with other trading partners that there is an off-ramp here,” she said.

‘HUGE TASK’
Growing friction with China, which did not get a reprieve from new US tariffs and imposed countertariffs in equal measure, added to the gloom this week.

Reaching trade deals that satisfy both Mr. Trump and financial markets is a “huge task,” Ms. Cutler said.

Instead, the Trump team will probably have to prioritize key countries and extend the 90-day pause for others, she said.

Even the smallest of Mr. Trump’s first-term trade deals, revising the automotive and steel provisions of the US-South Korea Free Trade Agreement, took over eight months while the comprehensive US-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade took more than two years.

But Greer, the USTR, said: “We can get to a point where the president can close these deals. He can negotiate, and if there’s a deal that’s good he can consider taking it, and if not, then he’ll have the tariff.”

The logistics of coordinating 90 sets of negotiations is just one hurdle for the thinly stretched administration.

Many key positions have not been filled and the officials who are there are often busy with other tasks, diplomats said, like the Treasury officials who met on Friday with Ukraine about a critical minerals deal.

Greer told Fox News that his 200-person staff was “working around the clock” as proposals were traded back and forth with foreign counterparts.

The Treasury has just one other senior official confirmed by the Senate, Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender. Mr. Trump has not even nominated anyone for the key post of undersecretary for international affairs, and a career official is serving in an acting capacity.

USTR, too, is relying heavily on career staff, with several key deputy positions requiring Senate confirmation unfilled.

Another complicating factor is uncertainty about US positions on trade matters, a second diplomatic source added, saying the top Trump trade advisers each had his own views.

Some countries, including Britain, Australia and others, have discussed trade with the administration since Trump’s inauguration in January, with little result.

“It’s not like there’s a sheet of paper with firm talking points that is changing hands,” said one diplomatic source. “It’s a process. And I’d say use the term ‘talks’, not ‘negotiations.’” — Reuters