Tech companies were celebrating Wednesday (Jan. 15) after President Donald Trump signed "phase one" of a new trade deal with China, which postpones/lowers some of the President's escalating tariffs...for now.
“Phase One is a big step toward normalizing our trading relationship with China and ending this costly trade war," said Consumer Technology Association president Gary Shapiro. "President Trump made a deal that rolls back tariffs and addresses critical tech priorities including intellectual property protections and forced technology transfer," he said.
CTA has been pushing back on the tariffs since day one, saying they would hurt U.S. companies and consumers. Shapiro continued the pushback Wednesday. "Tariffs are taxes on Americans – not the Chinese," he said. "The postponement of tariffs is a temporary reprieve on many of Americans’ favorite tech products. But market uncertainty remains until we see permanent tariff removal—or return the billions of dollars our nation has paid because of these tariffs. Businesses and markets crave certainty and relief from the whiplash caused by the ups and downs of our trade negotiations."
Phase one lowers the tariffs on TV's, smart watches, smart speakers, wireless headsets and earbuds from 15% to 7.5%, postpones tariffs on laptops, video game consoles, smartphones and laptops.
But tariffs remain on desktops, power adapters and chargers.
