Trump Tariff Effects on Prices

After reading about how one of the targets of the Trump Tariffs is electronics, I was curious how this might affect computer parts. So I pulled up the official list. I'm neither a lawyer nor patient enough to read all 1300+ entries in detail, but a few items stood out:

- Magnetic disk drive storage units, on page 37. Which seems to include at least some hard drives, according to lists of items imported under those codes which I found online ( example showing Seagate and LaCie HDDs - not all from China, Asus DVD R/W, etc.).
- Unrecorded optical media, and related products, page 43
- Color video monitors on page 44, of types whose description would seem to include at least some computer displays
- LEDs, on page 48

I thought this would be a good place to discuss products potentially affected, and downstream effects. The proposed tariff rate is 25%. And this is only for parts originating in China; items such as Thai hard drives would not be affected.

So far this is only covering products listed in the initial $50 billion worth of tariffs, as there are no lists of items for additional tariffs available yet.

 

TBH it would have much further reach than you would expect. As the tariff(s) goes into effect they will affect much, even to the case for our systems. In the end It will be a nightmare. A trade war, or even tariff war, is not what is the best interest for consumers. All products are effected as even those not tariffed now have a higher price they can charge in the market place. The government will not let you know it, but they love it. It essentially is new undesignated tax income. wonder where that will all end up?

 

There's also the extra cost of customs processing. I don't know how US customs works but here in Oz the the cost of processing, storing and clearing packages until duty is paid is reflected in fiscal analysis of whether to lower the current $1000 threshold for the GST (sales tax) equivalent of 10% (i.e. charge the 10% on ALL incoming packages rather than only >$1000) - it would cost more money than it would raise

 

It's also possible that any party in the "supply chain" that intervenes to get the notebook into the consumer's hands (system builders, resellers, logistics, etc.) that uses any item that sees a cost increase will probably translate that into the final price