Apple, Nvidia, Dell, and Others Get a Tariffs Exemption Under New Rules
248 comments
·April 12, 2025perihelions
jader201
> a handful of powerful, connected "insiders" will be allowed to operate businesses, and will dominate... while everyone else gets wiped out, by acts of government
Note that this is not an exemption for companies, but an exemption for goods:
> A new list of goods to be exempted from the latest round of tariffs on U.S. importers was released, and it includes smartphones, PCs, servers, and other technology goods, many of which are assembled in China.
asadotzler
So all anyone has to do to qualify is produce some of the most complicated electronic devices and components in the history of the world at the largest scale possible, without which there is zero chance of being sustainable or competitive, and then they can benefit from the gifts to the established giants?
What a gift. What a great idea. That'll surely spur innovation and domestic production and have no effect to further insulate the giants from competition.
jader201
> without which there is zero chance of being sustainable or competitive
It seems like some of these comments are missing how competition works.
Competition happens within the same type(s) of goods, not across them.
That is, the companies making the goods still affected by tariffs aren’t in competition with the companies making goods now exempt by tariffs.
Yes, its true that they will have a better chance at thriving under these exemptions, but whether they thrive or not should have little impact on the other companies.
To be clear, I’m not arguing in favor of this decision — or any of the tariffs, for that matter.
I’m just simply arguing that competition isn’t really the angle to use to argue against this particular decision.
eastbound
And if you build your tech in US, well, you are disadvantaged because you have to pay the tariffs on every component you import from China.
So it’s actually an incentive to build in China.
redserk
It isn’t really cheap or easy to build a PC or smartphone business with name recognition…
Nor is it cheap or easy to build a company that would likely be able to appeal tariff exemptions…
ojbyrne
It’s exactly as easy or cheap to build a smartphone or PC business as it was a month ago. The headline is misleading.
amelius
Speaking of which, what are the tariffs for Russia?
dev_l1x_be
I thought this is what happened during covid already. We wiped out a large number of small businesses.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/transparencyandgovernance/fre...
vkou
Small businesses die and start all the time.
It's unsurprising that more of them would die during a massive recession and a global pandemic.
Those numbers are meaningless without a similar count of small businesses opening.
jtthe13
I gather you haven't started your own business, or did yours start and die repeatedly?
01100011
No. This reads as capitulation by Trump who is now finding out his long held, half-baked economic theories are wrong. Trump got spanked by the bond market and realized how weak his position was. He can't walk it all back overnight without appearing even weaker than he already is. He's going to slowly roll back most consequential tariffs to try to escape blame for damaging the economy.
numa7numa7
This is it exactly. And all the people who are calling Trump a 4cd chess master and a genius are in my opinion highly influenced by his propaganda.
They have a Trump Derangement Syndrome in a worship sense.
amelius
Trump's Reality Distortion Field.
spacemadness
I’m completely over the tech industry falling over itself to bootlick and apologize away everything we’ve seen play out recently. The Cloudflare CEO, Matthew Prince, recently posted on X trying to explain the strategy and likely calm investors fears: https://x.com/eastdakota/status/1909822463707652192
“They’re not stupid. I know enough of the players involved to know they’re not idiots.”
“They’re not just in it for themselves. I get that this has become non-conventional wisdom, but I am going to assume for this that the goal isn’t merely grift.”
TLDR: don’t worry, it’s 5D chess. Keep on bootlicking your way to success while your stock gets trashed by these policies and we double down on anti-science rhetoric which will hasten our decline. I guess most of these leaders will have cashed out before it all implodes.
hackernewds
It opens up avenues to all sorts off oligarchy style bribery and lack of market competition. ultimately, the country will be looted, since the most successful businesses will not thrive on its merits
aswanson
His crypto coin also allows anyone to bribe him anonymously. It's incredibly corrupt.
null
Spooky23
We're building a hybrid of Italian Fascist and a Argentinian Peronist like state.
The desire for transactional wins and power overshadows all. Trump will unironically ally himself with a turd like Elon, or a turd like the UAW dude who glazed him on "Liberation Day". The state control of business is missing... perhaps we'll see that develop with Tesla.
It's a weird movement, because the baseline assumption is that the country is ruined. So any marginal win is celebrated, any loss is "priced in" politically.
grey-area
Well these tariffs are a great opportunity for state control and corruption, companies are bribing him already.
Every dictatorship is unhappy in its own way but they all involve:
Myth of the strong man dictator
Erosion of rule of law
Undermining independent judiciary
Arbitrary detention and arbitrary enforcement of laws
Separate paramilitary groups
There are signs of all of this in the US just now.
aswanson
Exactly. I hope our government can survive the next 4 years for criminal investigations into this era. We can't become Russia.
pseudalopex
What crimes were committed and could be prosecuted under the Supreme Court's immunity ruling?
aisenik
It's very clear that the system of Constitutional governance has been intentionally broken. It is very common for authoritarian regimes to have compliant judiciaries and broad legislative control.
Effective restoration and reconstruction of Constitutional governance will necessarily be dramatic. It's still doable, but optimism is more of a survival strategy than an obvious conclusion at this stage.
amelius
Market manipulation?
https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/well-timed-options-...
(Besides, at this point I wouldn't be surprised if Trump's Russian oligarch friends were among these traders.)
Herring
Trump won the popular vote. I don't think this is going away without a major demographic shift, time probably measured in decades.
acdha
He won by a single point, when 30% of the population didn’t vote. It’s not good for the future of the country that he got anywhere as many votes as he did but we should remember that an emboldened minority is still a minority.
sylos
Tinfoil hat time, I don't think the man claiming everyone else cheated and who got caught cheating in a previous election got all his votes in a legal manner
alienthrowaway
> Trump won the popular vote.
He did not, he got <50% of the total votes at final tally. People who parrot this are under-informed, or lying to claim a mandate his administration lacks.
vkou
He won the popular vote in a year when incumbents across the world ate shit at the polls because of COVID inflation.
The US had the smallest drop in support for an incumbent party.
null
cinbun8
From an outsider’s perspective, it’s difficult to discern any coherent U.S. strategy—assuming one even exists. One day it’s a 145% tariff on China. The next, it’s “Well, it’s still 145%, but Apple and Nvidia are exempted because their stock prices might take a hit.” Then comes a 90-day pause, adding to the confusion.
It’s not clear whether Jamieson Greer is actually steering this, or if any of it was thoroughly thought through.
jonplackett
This is the only explanation that has made sense to me so far. And it makes even more sense based on these exemptions.
https://www.instagram.com/share/_jW_V1hwM
This is Senator Chris Murphy explaining it’s not economic policy, it’s an attempt to blackmail corporations into submission by making a deal with him in return for sanctions relief.
Keep an eye out for what Apple and nvidia might have agreed to give.
prng2021
I keep seeing these explanations of “4D chess”. It’s Donald Trump. He has absolutely no idea what he’s doing when it comes to economic policies. Unless you believe he can see into the future of how other world leaders would react and consistently outsmart everyone else, there’s no 4D chess being played.
rescripting
This isn’t advanced negotiation tactics, it’s mafia style negotiation tactics, which are 100% in character. See the law firms now providing him with 100s of millions in pro bono work to avoid punitive executive orders.
netsharc
I learned that "4D chess" just means, "I see the 3 dimensions, I can't explain what's happening, but I guess they can, because they have that extra dimension.".
At this point it's something like 100D chess, because 99 levels of "Why?" have been explained by "because they're morons" but the defenders keep believing there's an extra dimension...
hackernewds
hard to attribute to competence what you can attribute to malice. just as law firms are being squeezed for $600 million of services through extortion, this is Mafia mentality as well where first something is held hostage and then negotiated for. given the parties involved, I would even assume that there is personal benefits staked in this, and lots of insider trading of course
unclebucknasty
No, it's not 4D chess, and neither is extorting companies with tariffs, extorting law firms with threats of executive orders, or hammering universities by withholding funds.
It's all blunt-force checkers that any simpleton with power can easily understand.
aswanson
Occams razor. It's Donald Trump, I've known he was a joke since the late 80s. In middle school. Baffling to see millions of people think reality TV is real and give him nuke codes.
unclebucknasty
It's exactly what it is. And, the seemingly haphazard, unpredictable nature of it is a feature, serving as perfect cover:
"Why these exemptions?"
"Who knows? None of it makes sense."
But, of course, it does.
It's also consistent with other, publicly-wielded cudgels, like the law-firm extortions under threat of executive orders.
sitkack
People should be more alarmed of these law firms, they will be used as his private army.
FabHK
"Nice smartphone business you have here..."
zzzeek
co-sign, it's the King's Tax (as Murphy had explained in a different video I watched of his). it's that simple. also it was a giant elephant to make everyone forget that they just exposed an entire military action over Signal in a completely illegal and extremely incompetent way.
jonplackett
I’m British so not that knowledgeable about us politics beyond the big players.
How well known is Murphy? I’d never heard of him until I saw this video but he seems very impressive and much more electable than Biden or harris.
vFunct
Which didn't really work since what exactly are US tech companies giving Trump in exchange for eliminating tariffs?
And are only large corporations expected to play? I import shopping bags from Chinese manufacturers from my store, like millions of other small businesses do. What exactly are we supposed to offer Trump?
blitzar
Buy a meal at Mar-A-Lago, $5mil a plate.
alabastervlog
> And are only large corporations expected to play? I import shopping bags from Chinese manufacturers from my store, like millions of other small businesses do. What exactly are we supposed to offer Trump?
You'll eventually be buying them, for more than you pay now but less than the imported price, from a large US company that bribed whoever Dear Leader is at the time, for exemptions.
mcmcmc
Bribes
throw310822
Sorry, but what would have been the consequences of the tariffs on Chinese imports? Do you imagine American citizens having to pay twice or more for an iPhone (or not getting one at all) because of Trump? Not being able to afford a new laptop, because of Trump? Not being able to buy all the cheap consumer electronics, because of Trump? The "blackmail" (except it's simply the consequences of his own actions) goes two ways here- see also the TikTok debacle: or how to explain to hundreds of millions of enraged Americans that they cannot use their favourite social network because of Trump.
forinti
I think the most probable outcome is that Trump causes enough trouble to incite the whole country against him.
I don't see him completing his term. He's going to be impeached.
gbil
This assumes that he has more power than the tech companies on the everyday life and I wonder if that is really the case. As I'm not located in the states, I'm very much interested to hear from a US resident if that is really the case.
dtquad
>This assumes that he has more power than the tech companies
lol
Even the San Francisco city council is bullying American tech companies and tech executives.
The power of US tech companies is vastly overstated.
pseudalopex
> This assumes that he has more power than the tech companies on the everyday life
How?
JustExAWS
A tech company can’t shoot me with impunity under “qualified immunity”. Put me in jail, harass me because I don’t look like a belong in my own neighborhood, take my property under civil forfeiture without a trial…
TheSwordsman
As an American, I regret to inform you that you're trying to use logic to understand a situation where it seems like logic wasn't used (in terms of the economic impact). These are the same fuckwits that tried to claim a trade deficit is the same as a tariff.
throwaway48476
[flagged]
galleywest200
I am unsure why anyone would want to change the trade imbalance when you are arguably the richest country on earth. You have a trade imbalance because you are rich and can buy everything you want.
Nobody in onshoring manufacturing with this level of instability in the finances of this country at this time. Trump changes his mind too often to build billions of dollars worth of factories.
brookst
“Fix” implies it’s broken. This is like saying it’s one way to fix America’s relative wealth.
dkrich
There is no plan. Talk tough, reverse under pressure, rinse repeat. Anyone surprised must not have watched season one which aired in 2019.
steveBK123
The "smart trumpers" I know have already staked out the entire range of possible outcomes:
1) He is completely restructuring global trade and decoupling us from China which is tough but necessary medicine because our biggest geopolitical adversary cannot be our largest trading partner
2) You can't believe half of what he says, he's all bluster, he's addicted to deals and will sign some fake deals to score a domestic win and we will resume status quo
Like yeah - sounds smart, but which is it?
netsharc
Thinking the status quo will return so easily is like Putin pulling out of Ukraine and saying "So we're back to 23rd January (Edit/Correction: February) 2022, right, friends?".
The trust in the US (dollar) hegemony has now been eroded, and will probably continue until a purge of the regime of idiots (not just the oust of one idiot...).
BeFlatXIII
If Trump is America's Napoleon III, who is the world's modern Otto von Bismark?
vdupras
I'm curious as to why you chose Napoleon III. The context under which he rose to power seem quite different from Trump's. America isn't in the middle of a 60-years long revolution/counter-revolution cycle. What are the similarities?
yareally
Probably Putin.
pkulak
The plan is to make every country and CEO grovel at the feet of the boss to be exempted from the tariffs. I’d say it’s corruption, but it’s more like a protection racket.
I wonder what these companies had to offer?
ArinaS
> "assuming one even exists"
I actually doubt it does. Everyting is just too chaotic to be a strategy.
FabHK
Agreed. I think at this point we can discard the assumption of 4D chess.
(This is not to say that there aren't some Project 2025 plans in the background that parts of the administration are aiming to push through.)
vFunct
There is no planned strategy. Planning requires learning about entire systems, and Trump isn't smart enough to do that. He can only act on things placed before him. If he sees foreigners making money by selling into the US, he has to raise tariffs on it. There is no second order, third order, or any deeper level of understanding of what's going on. It's purely superficial action, on things Trumps eyes sees, not what his brain sees. There is no brain in there that can predict what would happen if tariffs were raised. He can only raise tariffs.
To be smart is to have systemic understanding, and Trump & the Republicans are incapable of that.
It's exactly what happened in his first term, when he got rid of the nation's pandemic preparedness because why would anyone ever need that, right?
throwaway48476
Every company that wants an exemption has to pay. It's a personal tax system.
jmull
> assuming one even exists
Why would you assume that?
I don't know why people keep expecting Trump to be different than what he has consistently shown us for all these years. There's no subtle plan. There's no long-term plan. He's cranking the levers immediately available to him for the drama, as he has always done.
People around him may have ideas and plans. They can sometimes get him to agree to one of these, but it never lasts long.
ToucanLoucan
I mean, his rich friends made 340 billion in the stock market chaos. So I suspect there is at least a vague plan, but it has nothing to do with anyone but himself and those who support him getting richer. But that's the only plan I think Trump has ever had in his entire life, or will ever have.
Like he's just not that deep. He's an incredibly shallow, inexperienced, dim, incurious old man who has never worked a job in his life, never built anything, never did anything. He arrived on top and his greatest achievement in life was managing to not lose it, in a country where it is specifically very hard to do that.
And hearing his supporters talk about how strong he is is just objectively hilarious. Man looks like 4 steepish flights of stairs would kill him stone dead.
badc0ffee
I don't like him either, but it's not like accomplished nothing: https://www.cnbc.com/2010/11/09/Donald-Trumps-Best-and-Worst...
There are some failures in there but also some wins, like buying air rights for. Heap and making effective use of them.
walterbell
Per Bloomberg, 20% fentanyl tariff on China still applies and these categories may yet receive their own unique tariff, https://archive.is/jKupW
The exemption categories include components and assembled products, https://content.govdelivery.com/bulletins/gd/USDHSCBP-3db9e5...
8471 ADP (Automatic Data Processing) Machines: PCs, servers, terminals.
8473.30 Parts for ADPs: keyboards, peripherals, printers.
8486 Machines for producing semiconductors & ICs: wafer fab, lithography.
8517.13 Mobile phones and smartphones.
8517.62 Radios, router, modems.
8523.51 Radio/TV broadcasting equipment.
8524 2-way radios.
8528.52 Computer monitors and projectors (no TVs).
8541.10 Diodes, transistors and similar electronic components
8541.21 LEDs
8541.29 Photodiodes and non-LED diodes
8541.30 Transistors
8541.49.10 Other semiconductors that emit light
8541.49.70 Optoelectronics: light sensors, solar cells
8541.49.80 Photoresistors
8541.49.95 Other semiconductor devices
8541.51.00 LEDs for displays
8541.59.00 Other specialized semiconductor devices
8541.90.00 Semiconductor parts: interconnects, packaging, assembly
8542 Electronic ICs
codedokode
> 8486 Machines for producing semiconductors & ICs: wafer fab, lithography.
Does US buy them from China too?
walterbell
Unlikely. The exclusions above are for reciprocal tariffs from all countries, i.e.
China 0% reciprocal + 20% (fentanyl) + 2018-2024 rates
non-China 0% reciprocalkevin_thibedeau
Seems a bit anti-business to have an unequal playing field just for the star-bellied sneetches. Also silly that those with the biggest piles of capital are getting exemptions when the whole purpose of this exercise is to spur local investment in manufacturing. If anything, small businesses below some threshold of revenue/staff should be getting exemptions.
bogwog
Wdym? It's entirely merit-based, with the 'merit' being $1 million dollar totally-not-a-bribe dinner with the president: https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intell...
rqtwteye
That's definitely how it looks like
victor106
You are right.
Do you think all the tech CEO’s attended his inauguration for nothing?
I never imagined I would see such public corruption in any western country. I am saying this as someone who supported some the current administrations agenda
jm4
It’s total bullshit. Part of my business involves direct import and that’s now impacted by tariffs. The cherry on top is that what I import is not and cannot be produced in the U.S. I source a number of other products from suppliers in the U.S. and literally every single one of them is impacted by tariffs somehow, whether it’s ingredients, packaging, etc. that comes from somewhere else. Some of my materials originate in the Dominican Republic, which is now subject to a 10% tariff, although it’s more common for others in my industry to source those same materials from China. Now that China is prohibitively expensive, they will be quickly pivoting to other suppliers, which will further drive up prices. Supply chains are in chaos right now.
It burns me up that massive companies like Apple and Nvidia get a free pass while everyone else is subject to the most brain dead economic policy anyone alive today has ever lived through.
steveBK123
The whole thing strikes me as a bunch of nepobaby/fake academic/banker bro advisors who have no idea how the physical world works. As much as I think Musk is a bad actor at this point, talking to him about supply chains would have highlighted how insane this whole plan was from day 1.
My dad is a retired EE who dealt with the 90s offshoring wave and described the process of spinning up offshore production with a new supplier/factor/product as a 1-2 year process.
Now imagine every producer with China exposure trying to do this at the same time dealing with the same limited ex-China options? Nothing was happening in the 90 day pause, let alone before the 2026 midterms or before the end of his reign in 2028.
Complete chaos for American companies who are left with no good options other than try to wait it out, and pass on excess cost to consumers in interim.
jm4
It’s pure stupidity and most people don’t even realize it. Last night I met a couple at a country club where I was a guest - one of those $100k/yr places - and they asked me if my trade partners are charging me more with the tariffs. I told them the U.S. government is charging me more with the tariffs and my trade partners are charging me more because the value of the dollar is down. This was the first time anyone told them it’s the importer who pays the tariff and that it will be passed to the customer in multiples to maintain the same profit margin. Man, to be wealthy enough to be a member at a place like that and to be able to live in ignorant bliss… What a life.
kgwgk
"Star-bellied sneetches" maybe, but it's not about "biggest piles of capital" as much as about importing things with the following codes:
8471 8473.30 8486 8517.13.00 8517.62.00 8523.51.00 8524 8528.52.00 8541.10.00 8541.21.00 8541.29.00 8541.30.00 8541.49.10 8541.49.70 8541.49.80 8541.49.95 8541.51.00 8541.59.00 8541.90.00 8542
m348e912
It took me a minute to figure out what you were referring to:
| Code | Description |
|--------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 8471 | Automatic data processing machines (e.g., computers, servers, laptops) |
| 8473.30 | Parts/accessories for machines of 8471 (e.g., computer parts) |
| 8486 | Machines for manufacturing semiconductors or ICs |
| 8517.13.00 | Smartphones |
| 8517.62.00 | Data transmission machines (e.g., routers, modems) |
| 8523.51.00 | Solid-state storage (e.g., USB drives, flash memory) |
| 8524 | Recorded media (e.g., tapes, disks — mostly obsolete) |
| 8528.52.00 | LCD/LED monitors for computers |
| 8541.10.00 | Diodes (not including LEDs) |
| 8541.21.00 | Transistors (<1 W dissipation) |
| 8541.29.00 | Other transistors |
| 8541.30.00 | Thyristors, diacs, triacs |
| 8541.49.10 | Gallium arsenide LEDs |
| 8541.49.70 | Other LEDs (not GaAs) |
| 8541.49.80 | Other photosensitive semiconductors |
| 8541.49.95 | Other semiconductors not elsewhere specified |
| 8541.51.00 | Unassembled photovoltaic cells |
| 8541.59.00 | Other photovoltaic cells/modules |
| 8541.90.00 | Parts for items in 8541 |
| 8542 | Electronic integrated circuits (e.g., microprocessors, memory chips) |
kgwgk
I copied the codes from the actual government communication: https://content.govdelivery.com/bulletins/gd/USDHSCBP-3db9e5...
As other commenter says, it’s interesting that there are also exceptions within the exceptions.
FranzFerdiNaN
America has finally become the banana republic it has accused others of being.
vasco
That's a funny way of looking at it because the banana republics weren't called that because they were "bananas" or something. They were called that to identify which of those countries had had state and megacorp interference and government toplings, by mostly the United Fruit Company - an American company.
Whatever the banana republics were they were turned into that by the US's doing, so it's funny that now the term comes back home.
ftorres16
It bears some resemblance to the Imperial Boomerang.
kmeisthax
People commenting here about Trump corruption are correct, but it's also not new. This is regression to the mean. America has historically been a highly corrupt nation with extreme wealth inequality that occasionally has shocks (e.g. Abolitionism, the Progressive movement, WWII) that allow liberals to take over and purge the system of corruption. If anything, we've had to deal with and defeat (or at least, outlive) smarter and more well-connected fascists than Trump.
integricho
not just a bit, this is so unfair and smells of corruption, only the richest companies getting exemptions, give me a break. this is what organized crime looks like.
croes
That’s how oligarchies work.
izacus
Eastern Europe and large part of Asia to US citizens: "First time?"
null
atkailash
[dead]
dhx
Exempt items are:
8471: Computers.
8473.30: Computer parts.
8486: Semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
8517.13.00: Smartphones.
8517.62.00: Network equipment.
8523.51.00: Solid state media.
8524 and 8528.52.00: Computer displays.
8541.* (with some subheadings excluded): Semiconductor components EXCEPT LEDs, photovoltaic components, piezoelectric crystals).
8542: Integrated circuits.
The 8541.* category exclusions are interesting. Does the US self-produce all required quantities of LEDs and piezoelectric crystals and doesn't need to import those? Is the exception on photovoltaic components to discourage American companies from producing solar panels?
[1] https://hts.usitc.gov/search?query=[INSERT HEADING CODE HERE. EXAMPLE: 8471]
righthand
Why is no one highlighting how this is repeating history 8 years ago? I don’t get it, there’s this magical reporting gap where all of this is new strategy but it’s the exact same strategy. Why don’t we acknowledge this instead of searching for some new angle?
Here are a bunch of links from 2018/2019:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/13/apple-dodges-iphone-tariff-a...
https://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/investing/t052-s001-14-s...
https://www.texastribune.org/2019/06/07/trump-tariff-threat-...
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/trumps-tariff-str...
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-to-delay-tariff-increases...
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/19/hundreds-of-chines...
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/china-threatens-retalia...
https://www.cfr.org/blog/trumps-tariffs-are-killing-american...
yellow_lead
This link is better:
https://wccftech.com/trumps-reciprocal-tariffs-have-reported...
Or, the primary source seems to be:
https://content.govdelivery.com/bulletins/gd/USDHSCBP-3db9e5...
But you'd have to look up those codes to know they're for PCs, smartphones
instagib
Thanks for a great free article.
The title is sensationalism when it should be phone and computer associated parts are exempted from tariffs or something like that.
greatgib
The goal of all of that is to give specific exemptions to Tesla discreetly with diversions because of the obvious corruption of this government.
dashtiarian
It actually feels nice to see US people having a taste of the kind of government their intelligence service force other nations to have by coups, except that it does not feel nice at all. I'm sorry guys.
owenversteeg
I’m not seeing anyone discuss this here, so I figured I’d raise an important point: this style of tariffs is crushing for US manufacturing. While a universal tariff with no exceptions incentivizes domestic manufacturing, a selective tariff with specific industry exceptions is absolute poison.
You might think, as the authors of this exemption did, “well then we will exempt computer parts.” Then people will simply import the parts. But if you manufacture those parts in the US, you are suddenly at a massive disadvantage. Your computer parts factory likely runs using a large amount of imported raw materials, imported machines, and imported tooling, and there are no tariff exemptions for those broad categories… so you’re screwed. Oftentimes there is no reasonable domestic substitute. You will go out of business in favor of someone importing the parts, which now happens tariff-free under an exemption. That’s why, generally speaking, tariff exemptions are deadly to domestic manufacturing.
seafoamteal
Has the Proton CEO acknowledged just how farcically off base he was when he said the GOP was the party of small businesses?
wwweston
Demand for Proton services is probably up.
jmclnx
I cannot read it, but didn't China restrict the export of some tech related items as part of their tariffs ?
I remember hearing those items are need to make assemble some components needed for some boards.
I hope Wall Street is still hammering this admin. on why these tariffs are bad.
This reads to me as "we're doubling-down on 145%+ tariffs for everyone else".
This is getting frighteningly close to a Russian-style economy. As in, a handful of powerful, connected "insiders" will be allowed to operate businesses, and will dominate... while everyone else gets wiped out, by acts of government. The furthest system possible from the free-market paradigm that built the American economy as it stands today.
Russia is not a prosperous nation.