More from US tariffs: how Trump’s tax is hitting Big Tech and beyond
Reuters reports US memory manufacturer Micron has told customers it will add surcharges to some of its products once Trump’s tariffs take effect. Micron’s customers put those chips are largely made in China, Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore, in products like laptops, servers, and cars, which will also get more expensive.
The report quotes an executive at an unnamed Asian memory chip manufacturer:
“If they don’t want to bear the taxes, we cannot ship the products. We cannot be held accountable for the decisions made by your government...With this kind of tax rate, no company can generously say, ‘I’ll take on the burden’.”
Apple’s “short-term” solution to Trump’s tariffs may be upping its iPhone exports from India, where the 26 percent tariff is about half of China’s. The company is on track to make 25 million phones there this year, with 10 million for the local market, but might redirect more to the US.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple sees the situation as “too uncertain” to alter its manufacturing plans just yet though.
The company’s early data suggests a “much smaller-than-feared 0.2 percent fall in first-quarter operating profit,” according to Reuters, likely driven by the stockpiling of memory chips by manufacturers ahead of Trump’s tariffs, with a related uptick in Galaxy S25 sales driven by panicked buyers in the US. Regardless, the quarter ahead looks grim so a reversal of Samsung’s dilemma is unlikely.
Good video from Billboard’s Kristin Robinson.
With 25 percent tariffs on all car imports now in effect, Jeep’s parent company is mulling ways help mitigate the negative effects of the new fees. So far, those plans have included employee discounts for customers and temporary layoffs of factory workers. Now Stellantis is considering a program in which its suppliers could apply for financial assistance in paying the new tariffs, Bloomberg reports. It’s unclear how much help Stellantis would provide, or even how long this help could last. But it’s an example of the lengths the auto industry is willing to go to avoid having to pass the full cost along to customers.
After the markets reacted positively to a false report about a potential 90-day pause on tariffs, Donald Trump has decided to push the other way. After China responded to his new tariff plan with retaliatory tariffs of its own and apparently ended negotiations on a solution for TikTok (welcome to the trade war), he posted a new message on Truth Social Monday morning:
...if China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th. Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated!
Somewhere in the loop of Reuters / CNBC newswires connected to stock traders’ terminals and the @deitaone account on X that usually reposts wire reports, a comment from Trump economic adviser Kevin Hassett was reported as though the White House would consider a 90-day pause on tariffs for countries other than China.
The only problem is that while his response to being asked about a pause in a Fox News interview started with the word “yeah,” it was not a yes to the question being asked. The White House claimed the whole thing was fake news, and prices quickly dropped again.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick insisted in a Face the Nation appearance today that President Trump’s tariffs will “stay in place” and will result in things like “the army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in little screws to make iPhones” coming to the US.
He acknowledged that “it’s gonna be automated,” which is just one of the reasons more manufacturing may not mean more jobs.
Just days after President Trump initiated broad tariffs that could raise the prices of most goods that Americans buy, Musk told Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini yesterday that he thinks there should “effectively” be a “free-trade zone between Europe and North America,” writes Bloomberg.
In posts on X early Saturday morning, Musk insulted White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, who has pushed for “maximalist” tariff approach, as Bloomberg notes.
[bloomberg.com]
This is a wild story from Charlotte Palermino, a small business owner, about what went wrong when she tried to manufacture her skin care brand’s packaging in the US. It illustrates how global our economy is — and why the simple tagline of tariffs reviving US manufacturing isn’t as simple as it might seem. (Full disclosure: I’ve bought Palermino’s Dieux products before and they’re great.)
Donald Trump’s latest tariffs affect every country in the world, but some worse than others. New tariffs of 34 percent on China, 26 percent on India, and 46 percent on Vietnam will have a heavy impact on Apple’s supply chain, and potentially prices — assuming rates don’t change before they’re due to start on April 9th.
Nintendo faces similar problems for its newly announced Switch 2, but expect almost every tech company to feel the pinch.
