Trump Delays Chinese Tariffs on Laptops, Smartphones, and Toys
The delay will help consumers and importers during the Christmas shopping season.
President Donald Trump’s administration decided to delay tariffs on big items such as laptops, smartphones, and toys made in China until December 15. From The Wall Street Journal:
Trade talks appeared in jeopardy after the Trump administration threatened on Aug. 1 to extend tariffs of 10% to $300 billion in Chinese imports not currently taxed, including many consumer goods. They would come on top of 25% tariffs imposed on $250 billion in imports from China.
The office of the U.S. Trade Representative on Tuesday said it would instead delay the new tariffs on many major categories of items, including smartphones, laptop computers and toys, until Dec. 15.
The trade talks between China and the U.S. cooled recently after “the Trump administration blamed China for not moving quickly enough to purchase agricultural goods, a move that China said it hadn’t agreed to in the first place” in July. That is when he first threatened tariffs to go into effect on September 1.
But the phone call today between U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He went well. The three agreed to hold another phone call in two weeks.
No work on if the two sides will have a face-to-face meeting anytime soon.
The delay will help consumers and importers during the Christmas shopping season. Higher prices during the holidays and a constant low stock market probably influenced Trump to change his mind.
Smartphones and laptops make up $80 billion of trade.
The stock market already reacted to the news of delayed tariffs. It gained about 375 points. Apple came out as a huge winner as its stock “surged 4.2%” after the news came out.
Trump already gave Apple one other break when he chose to exclude the company’s smartwatches and earbuds from tariffs last year.
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Comments
Plus, it gives PDT a little stick to hold the carrot with trying to keep ChinaThugs out of Hong Kong.
Doubt it will work…but it doesn’t hurt to try.
Higher prices during the holidays and a constant low stock market probably influenced Trump to change his mind.
Or it could have something to do with negotiations, and rather routine negotiations at that.
There’s a phrase for it. What was it . . . oh yeah, The Art of the Deal.
Or, Trump blinks…. again.
You beat me to it.
Yea, he’s a real blinker alright. Funny that, no president has taken on the Chinese until Trump, but he’s “blinking”. Sure.
What did you call it when GW Bush let the Chinese force an American plane to the ground and hold our airmen hostage? Was that a blink or outright capitulation?
You vets in Texas blind? Or just full of TDS?
Art of Folding Like a Cheap Chinese Suit!