US President Donald Trump has emphasised that the United States cannot depend on China for essential technologies like semiconductors, chips, smartphones, and laptops, the White House said on Saturday (April 12), following a decision to exempt these items from steep new tariffs.
The exemptions mark a significant policy move within Trump’s broader strategy to reduce US dependence on Chinese manufacturing, particularly in sectors critical to national security and economic resilience.
Apple, Nvidia among firms pressed to relocate production
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said that major tech firms, including Apple and Nvidia, have already pledged substantial investments in the US as part of the administration’s push to boost domestic production.
“At the direction of the President, these companies are hustling to onshore their manufacturing in the United States as soon as possible,” Leavitt said, noting that the effort is tied to a long-term strategy to rebuild America’s industrial base.
Tariffs and recent exemptions
The newly exempted items were previously subject to a punitive 145% tariff on Chinese goods—part of a sweeping trade policy aimed at addressing what the Trump administration has described as unfair trade practices. These levies were imposed on top of a 10% baseline tariff on many foreign imports.
On April 5, the US Customs and Border Protection issued a notice granting exclusions to 20 categories of electronics, retroactive to that same date. These include products under tariff code 8471, covering a wide range of computer-related goods such as laptops, desktops, disk drives, and data processing equipment, along with flat panel displays, semiconductor devices, and memory chips.
These goods are typically not manufactured at scale within the US, making the tariffs especially burdensome for American tech companies reliant on global supply chains.
Tech firms get breathing room as trade war simmers
While the exemptions offer immediate relief for tech importers, the underlying tensions between the US and China remain unresolved. Beijing has maintained retaliatory tariffs, and the temporary 90-day reduction in tariffs extended to some other nations has not been applied to China, keeping uncertainty high.
