(Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Consumers can breathe a (temporary) sigh of relief. With price hikes and product delays piling up, President Trump today halted "reciprocal tariffs" for most countries for 90 days. For China, however, tariffs are ballooning from an already-eye-popping 104% to 125%.
In a Wednesday Truth Social post, Trump said: “I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately.”
The statement suggests that a 10% tariff will remain in place for affected countries. But the additional levies, which topped 40% on imports from countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, and Taiwan are on hold for at least three months.
Trump says “more than 75 Countries” have called US officials about negotiating trade deals to remove the tariffs. That does not include China, which imposed its own 84% retaliatory tariffs on US imports today. In response, Trump said, “I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately.”
“At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the USA, and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable,” Trump added.
The 125% rate is especially bad news for Apple, which manufactures most of its iPhones in China. To get ahead of the reciprocal tariffs (which were scheduled to go into effect today), the company has reportedly been flying in planes full of iPhones from India and China.
The sky-high tariffs on China also pose a threat to PC vendors since many components are manufactured in the country.
Trump’s pause on the remaining reciprocal tariffs is likely welcome news for other vendors. Upgradable laptop maker Framework had announced a 10% price increase and stopped sales of its base models in the US. But the San Francisco-based company has since reversed course, citing Trump halting the reciprocal tariffs.
Nintendo, which manufactures the bulk of its products in Cambodia and Vietnam delayed preorders for the Switch 2 in the US and Canada to assess the tariff impact.
The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) is calling on Trump to fully revoke the tariffs rather then merely pause them. "While this is great news, we are hearing directly from our members that the ongoing additional 10% universal baseline tariff, the possible return of punitive, reciprocal tariffs, and this continued uncertainty, are already hurting American startups and small businesses," CTA CEO and Vice Chair Gary Shapiro said in a statement.