US Lowers Tariffs On Major Tech Exporting Nations - But Buyers Will Still Pay More

World War Fee US President Donald Trump on Thursday announced new tariff rates that reduce the import duties on goods from several major tech-producing nations.

The US announced its new trade policy on April 2nd, which Trump named “Liberation Day” because it introduced “reciprocal tariffs” that reflected the duties other nations charge on imports of US-made goods.

The administration suggested manufacturers outside the US establish stateside factories, the output of which would be immune to tariffs, to boost local employment.

The reciprocal tariffs affected several nations that host significant technology manufacturing industries.

Washington imposed 36 percent tariffs on Thailand, 32 percent on Taiwan, 25 percent on South Korea, and 24 percent on Japan and Malaysia. Rising tech manufacturing powers Vietnam and India wore import duties of 46 percent and 27 percent respectively.

The US later paused introduction of the tariffs until August 1st to allow time for further negotiations.

On Thursday, the administration announced its new tariff rates, which resulted in reduced tariff rates for tech-producing nations listed in the table below.

The administration’s announcement did not include China, as talks between Washington and Beijing continue.

Malaysia’s Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry welcomed the tariff reduction, saying it was the result of “sustained engagement” with the US and “roughly tracks” rates imposed on imports from other countries in the region. The Reg has seen reports of similar responses from other regional governments, although few are entirely happy, as even these reduced tariffs are higher than import duties charged by the US before the second Trump administration took office.

The stated intent of the tariff policy is to encourage manufacturing in the USA, and therefore to grow employment in the sector, while increasing the federal government’s income, a combination of outcomes that President Trump says will see the USA enter “a new golden age.”

• India gets its turn on the Trump tariff train: 25% levy to start Friday
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• Folks aren’t buying the PCs that US vendors stockpiled to dodge tariffs

Others aren’t so sure.

US Bureau of Labor Statistics data suggests manufacturing jobs continue to decline.

On July 29, think tank the Tax Foundation predicted the tariff policy will create over $2 trillion in government revenue by 2034 but reduce US GDP by 0.8 percent, figures that will improve under the lighter tariffs announced on Thursday.

However Yale University’s Budget Lab points out that the new tariff rates represent “the equivalent of a 16.0 percentage point increase in the US average effective tariff rate,” and “imply an increase in consumer prices of 1.8% in the short-run.”

The Lab also believes that the tariffs will shrink the US economy by 0.4 percent over time, and that while they will cause manufacturing output to increase other sectors will shrink. ®