Trump exempts smartphones, laptops, and electronics from new tariffs

US President Donald Trump’s administration has announced that smartphones, laptops, and other popular consumer electronics will be excluded from the latest round of tariffs, offering relief to both consumers and major electronics companies like Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.

The US Customs and Border Protection shared the updated list of exclusions late Friday. These exemptions apply to Trump’s 125% tariff on goods from China, as well as a 10% global tariff covering imports from nearly all other countries.

Products now spared from these duties include smartphones, laptop computers, computer processors, memory chips, hard drives, and machines used in semiconductor manufacturing. Many of these devices aren’t manufactured in the US, and setting up domestic production would take years, making these exclusions especially significant.

The move is expected to benefit companies such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which recently announced a large new investment in the US, along with other global chipmakers.

However, this relief may be temporary. The exemptions come from a provision in Trump’s initial tariff plan that avoided stacking sector-specific tariffs on top of general country-wide duties. While this move shields certain electronics for now, these products could still face new, likely lower, tariffs in the future — particularly those from China.

For now, semiconductors remain excluded, despite Trump’s past promises to apply sector-specific tariffs to them. While his administration has set most sectoral tariffs at 25%, it remains unclear what future rates on semiconductors and related products might look like.