Trump exempts smartphones from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs
www.ft.com
Dispensation is first sign of softening of levies against China and provides a big boost for Apple

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.12-132331/https://www.ft.com/content/3eb48a07-7cb0-4a44-9159-eb5b402c2fec

The Trump administration has excluded smartphones from its steep “reciprocal” tariffs as it battles to calm global markets by tempering its approach to the multifront trade war launched by the president.

According to a notice posted late on Friday night by Customs and Border Patrol, which is responsible for collecting tariffs, smartphones, along with routers and selected computers and laptops, would be exempt from reciprocal tariffs, which include the 125 per cent levies Donald Trump has imposed on Chinese imports.

  • char_stats@lemm.eeEnglish
    25·
    2 days ago

    Don’t forget all smartphones—except iPhones of course—still use Android, which is a Google OS with Google services. In the smartphone world, there’s no real alternative to American companies. It’s pretty much an American monopoly.

    • N3Cr0@lemmy.worldEnglish
      18·
      2 days ago

      CalyxOS on Fairphone is your friend, my friend. 😎 It’s degoogled and it values your privacy. If you really need an app from Google Play, there is the Aurora store in between. For everything else thete is F-droid and the calyx and guardian repo.

    • Railcar8095@lemm.eeEnglish
      8·
      2 days ago

      There are a handful of smartphones that have other OS, and you can have degoogled Android without Google services.

      It’s not for everyone, but there are options.

      • merde alors@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        8·
        2 days ago

        Android 15 is the fifteenth major release and the 22nd version of Android, the mobile operating system developed by the Open Handset Alliance and led by Google.

        The Open Handset Alliance (OHA) is a consortium led by Google that develops Android.

        we can degoogle android as much as we can, but we can’t degoogle completely unless we deandroid

        • Railcar8095@lemm.eeEnglish
          3·
          2 days ago

          Tell me what is the issue with the code, not with the coder.

          Still fell free to use a non Android/iOS option, but I’m sure you are using OEM Android/iOS, making this complain blatantly empty.

              • merde alors@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                2·
                2 days ago

                let’s start from the beginning

                Don’t forget all smartphones—except iPhones of course—still use Android, which is a Google OS with Google services. In the smartphone world, there’s no real alternative to American companies. It’s pretty much an American monopoly.

                There are a handful of smartphones that have other OS, and you can have degoogled Android without Google services.

                It’s not for everyone, but there are options.

                we can degoogle android as much as we can, but we can’t degoogle completely unless we deandroid

                meaning, it’s not a “real alternative to American companies”. Which, i understood what your comment suggested a degoogled android to be (because, you see, that was what the previous comment was about)

                Tell me what is the issue with the code, not with the coder.

                Still fell free to use a non Android/iOS option, but I’m sure you are using OEM Android/iOS, making this complain blatantly empty.

                you replied with that comment and made it about me for who knows what reason. You also needed to make an assumption to feel even more righteous

                If you read carefully, in the context of the comment it’s replying to, you’ll see that it wasn’t a complaint

                the main point here was that "i wasn’t complaining in the previous message " but you were offended by the possibility of you missing something; because if you think that it’s a complaint, it has to be a complaint. Who am i to tell you that i wasn’t complaining in the comment i wrote. So, you of course deserved some explanation :

                You’re replying to me, so tell me please about the context I’m missing

                And here we are.

                It’s raining outside and we’re far from home on a Sunday. You’re lucky today, I have all the time and the patience you need.