Posted on 04/13/2025 1:52:03 PM PDT by karpov
Tariffs are advertised in the name of helping American workers, but what do you know? They turn out to favor the powerful and politically connected. That’s the main message of President Trump’s decision to exempt smartphones and assorted electronic goods from his most onerous tariffs.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) late Friday issued a notice listing products that will be exempt from Mr. Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs that can run as high as 145% on goods from China. The exclusions apply to smartphones, laptop computers, hard drives, computer processors, servers, memory chips, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and other electronics.
The CBP notice takes the tariff rate on these products down considerably. Barron’s calculates that the exceptions cover $385 billion in 2024 imports. That includes $100 billion from China, or 23% of U.S. imports from that country. The tariff rate falls to 20% on the newly exempted Chinese exports.
These exemptions are good news for consumers who were facing much higher prices for smartphones that are a staple of modern life. How would you like a $2,400 iPhone? But the big winners are the giant companies that assemble these products abroad and now get a reprieve, at least for as long as they remain in Mr. Trump’s good political graces.
Apple CEO Tim Cook is a big winner, as are Dell Technologies’ Michael Dell, Jensen Huang of Nvidia, and the executives and shareholders of Hewlett-Packard and TSMC. This is no rap on them, since their job is look out for the best interests of shareholders and that means getting tariff carve-outs when they can. Some of the companies may not even have sought exemptions, though the opacity of the process for getting one is the Beltway Swamp’s dream.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
The Free Traitor Press.
The globalists at the WSJ, who are responsible for the off-shoring are lecturing the Trump administration about how to do tariffs.
UFB!
They were among the biggest media cheerleaders in supporting MFN trade status for China, or do they think we have forgotten that?
bump
“”””These exemptions are good news for consumers who were facing much higher prices for smartphones that are a staple of modern life”””””
And there is the reason. Not your biased opinion WSJ. You are upset because the group that did the best thru all the inflation were the people who had assets and not the consumers. And the people who have assets are losing money on paper.
Maybe you should look at the little guy who you shunned when you cheered all the jobs going overseas. Not the CEOs who got richer and richer whiled the little workers got poorer and poorer.
What most people can’t seem to understand is, Trump has said consistently since forever that what he wants is “Fair trade - trade where other countries are not ripping us off”
He has never said that his goal is to rely on tariffs exclusively, set tariffs equal to what we pay other countries or more, having a blanket tariff without exceptions, or anything of the kind. Tariffs are a tool to get to his goal of fair trade and he started the process by setting bespoke tariff rates for each country. That was the kickoff, tip-off, opening move in chess, whatever metaphor you choose. Now he is engaging in negotiations and I’m 100% confident the result will be “fair trade”.
Yes there will be exceptions. Yes they will change form time to time. Yes the rates will vary. Get used to it!
Just be thankful that no federal judge thinks he has the power to screw with THIS part of MAG!
Do you remember people begging at highway off-ramps back in the 1980s? No, because people had jobs.
Economic degradation has been going on for so long that younger people see our present situation as normal.
But for people who remember what it was like 30-40 years ago things have definitely changed for the worse. Something has to change even if eggheads at the WSJ can’t see it.
In the 70’s my older brother made blue jeans. My Aunt stamped car parts. My mom worked for Texas Instruments. My dad made rubber products. So many jobs that my family worked are no longer here in the USA.
The WSJ long ago quit being a credible source of any economic information and became just another leftist/propagandist paper.
Another Globalist, Establishment propaganda piece from the WSJ posted by you.
How so Unoriginal of you!
The Wall Street Journal went swiftly downhill once Murdoch bout it; and to a somewhat, but still very high extent, so did the N.Y. Post!
They’re just reporting what’s happening.
The exemptions are good. But they never should have been imposed to begin with. And what concession(s) did China give in exchange? It looks like, without Chinese concessions, he blinked first.
There are jobs to be had. The people you seeing panhandling are generally mentally ill or have substance abuse issues or both. It was the late 70’s and early 80’s that the mental institutions were emptied.
No. They’re not, actually.
Trump’s selective tariffs are simply designed to allow Americans to avoid as much pain as possible. If there are no American alternatives, then why prevent American purchase?
If the move was to avoid consumer pain, and this deleted this quickly, then they should have never been part of the tarrifs. Poor planning? And then to remove them with out Chinese concessions is simply not a smart move.
So, we all have our opinions.
Yours is, apparently, that the WSJ is truthful when they claim that Trump’s tariffs have carve-outs for his wealthy friends.
As I said, the Free Traitor Press.
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