Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs • Hacker News Board

Re: Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs

#821

Post by jijijijij » Sun, Apr 13, 2025, 8:42 PM UTC

soulofmischief wrote: post #795

jijijijij wrote: post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Your computer parts factory likely runs using a large amount of imported raw materials, imported machines, and imported tooling, and there are no tariff exemptions for those broad categories… so you’re screwed. All the planning charts and demolition orders have been on display at your local 24/7 news feed for more than eight years, so there’s no point in acting surprised about it. You’ve had plenty of time to lodge…

Keep your sympathies, it's a narrow-minded view to assume all Americans wanted this. We didn't. And it's not like we had a real, ethical choice. The runner-up was going to be business as usual with foreign politics, enabling genocides and engaging in proxy wars and regime changes for the control of energy and resources. Many people did not believe either candidate was legitimate or shouldn't be in prison.

You missed the sarcasm, no worries. It's also referencing a scene in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_th...

Re: Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs

#822

Post by _heimdall » Sun, Apr 13, 2025, 8:46 PM UTC

Balgair wrote: post #811

_heimdall wrote: post #793

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, and if both of those problems are fundamentally just how politics is going to work now we'd be better off throwing out the system entirely and starting fresh. Short of that, we need voters electing based on ideals and principles and we need those elected to actually follow the ideals and principles that got them elected.

Yeah, the issue is one of incentives. For all politicians, their incentive is to get (re)elected. That's pretty much part of the definition. The ones that follow that incentive are going to be (re)elected, those that don't aren't going to get into office. But, if you really do believe in democracy, then you have to actually trust the voters here. If you're thinking that they are just rubes and are easily lead around,…

I agree with you here. I do personally believe in democracy, though for a slightly different reason.

I believe in democracy because I think the public should be able to collectively pick their fate and then own the outcome. I don't want an elite class doing what they think is best for the rest of us, and I don't want to own the result of their decisions if I had no say in the decisions.

I live in a very red state. Though I didn't vote for Trump I am surrounded by a strong majority of people that did. I've viewed it the way you're describing from the beginning - we made this bed, now we get to see what the result is and decide what to do next.

Re: Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs

#823

Post by mulmen » Sun, Apr 13, 2025, 8:46 PM UTC

Neonlicht wrote: post #740

DonHopkins wrote: post #620

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> people expected more of the same as 8 years ago Only ignorant close minded gullible people who refused to listen to all the experts and intelligent people paying attention, who have all now been totally vindicated, after warning about it at the top of their lungs, and who are now fully entitled to say "I TOLD YOU SO". Expert Comment: What might President Trump’s second term mean for the world? https://www.ox.ac.uk/…

Thank you it seems everyone has already forgotten project 2025. Look I don't want to be too harsh on Americans nobody took the Nazis seriously when they had already written a book about how they saw the world... But none of this is shocking. There is an ideology behind what Trump is doing and he never hid it from the world.

As an American please be careful blaming all of us for this. Less than 1 in 4 Americans voted for Trump. It doesn’t mean you need to buy an F-150 but please separate the concept of the American people from the GOP voter base. The complexities of our electoral system and our unique racist history made this very hard to avoid. Please don’t assume Americans in general wanted this or are ok with it.

> nobody took the Nazis seriously when they had already written a book about how they saw the world.

This is completely false. A cursory internet search will find many examples. Churchill was a vocal opponent of the Nazis in the 1930s.

> But none of this is shocking.

Right. Nobody who was paying attention is shocked. This includes many Americans.

Re: Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs

#824

Post by Animats » Sun, Apr 13, 2025, 8:55 PM UTC

Animats wrote: post #372

Since last night, anyway. The people who make shipping work are frantically trying to keep up. One of the biggest customs brokers posts updates twice a day on weekdays. Last update 4 PM Friday, so they haven't caught the biggest reversal. If tariff rates change while in transit, the bond paid before the item was shipped may now be insufficient. So the container goes into storage (where?) until Customs and Border Prot…

Update: Possible pending reversal today (Sunday) on temporary exemption to emergency China tariff for computers and smartphones.[1][2] Trump and the Secretary of Commerce are saying different things on social media. Trump says he will look at the "whole electronic supply chain." The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg are trying to keep up with the announcements.

[1] https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/stock-market-trump-tariffs-...

[2] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-13/trump-say...

Re: Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs

#825

Post by arandomusername » Sun, Apr 13, 2025, 9:07 PM UTC

jonplackett wrote: post #816

arandomusername wrote: post #726

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You really are proving that user right, considering Trump never suggested injecting bleach.

I beg to differ. Quote from Trump: “I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute ... is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning?" "Because you see it gets inside the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that” https://www.axios.com/2022/04/26/birx-calls-trump-disinfecta... Edit: found the actual video. Enjoy! https:…

Never mentioned bleach. Mentioned UV disinfection right before that quote.

Never suggested it or said it's a good idea. Just said it's interesting, worth checking out, and has to be done by medical doctors.

Completely manipulating and twisting what Trump said to further your agenda - again proving the user above right. Is what Trump said stupid? Yeah. Did he suggest to inject bleach? No

Re: Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs

#826

Post by nwienert » Sun, Apr 13, 2025, 9:15 PM UTC

zaptrem wrote: post #812

pstuart wrote: post #791

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is to replace income taxes with tariffs. Domestic production is "desired" but this is not how to rebuild domestic production capability.

So we’d replace income tax with a regressive tax on consumption

I’ve ran the numbers in a bunch of ways and I don’t think they’re much if any more regressive than current income tax, given the rich avoid income past a point and spend a lot more on goods in the middle band, even percentage based. If you want a better progressive tax you’d need to focus on capital or spending on luxury goods and services.

Re: Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs

#827

Post by rstuart4133 » Sun, Apr 13, 2025, 9:22 PM UTC

sebazzz wrote: post #600

techpineapple wrote: post #431

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing that’s really been getting to me, is that, I’m liberal, not pro-Trump, but the MAGA American heartland story has been really getting to me. I want to see small business, manufacturing, small town American succeed. And there’s some part of me that thought maybe Trump, as much as I don’t like him, is the thing that is needed to make that happen, but man it seems like he’s really fucking over the people who su…

> small business, manufacturing, small town American succeed That can only happen if you ban all imports of anything those small business manufacturers would made, and be content with the prices going up so those Americans can really be paid who make those products. If that is not possible, then it is either slavery, poorly paid illegal immigrants or back to some other low-wage country like we’ve done for the past de…

> That can only happen if you ban all imports of anything those small business manufacturers would made, and be content with the prices going up so those Americans can really be paid who make those products. ... then it is either slavery, poorly paid illegal immigrants or back to some other low-wage country like we’ve done for the past decades.

Counterpoint: About 1/3 of Australia's GDP is small business. We have very few tariffs. We have a high minimum wage (about USD$16/hr) and it's enforced, so slavery yada, yada isn't a factor.

What you said sounds like it might be true, but in reality it ain't so.

Re: Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs

#828

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Apr 13, 2025, 9:35 PM UTC

ejoso wrote: post #597

spacemadness wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m completely over the tech industry falling over itself to bootlick and apologize away everything we’ve seen play out recently. The Cloudflare CEO, Matthew Prince, recently posted on X trying to explain the strategy and likely calm investors fears: https://x.com/eastdakota/status/1909822463707652192 “They’re not stupid. I know enough of the players involved to know they’re not idiots.” “They’re not just in it for t…

These excerpts and especially your TLDR doesn’t fairly digest his thesis and is a disingenuous and skewed read. Encourage others to read the whole tweet and form their own opinion instead.

[deleted]

Re: Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs

#829

Post by spacemadness » Sun, Apr 13, 2025, 9:36 PM UTC

ejoso wrote: post #597

spacemadness wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m completely over the tech industry falling over itself to bootlick and apologize away everything we’ve seen play out recently. The Cloudflare CEO, Matthew Prince, recently posted on X trying to explain the strategy and likely calm investors fears: https://x.com/eastdakota/status/1909822463707652192 “They’re not stupid. I know enough of the players involved to know they’re not idiots.” “They’re not just in it for t…

These excerpts and especially your TLDR doesn’t fairly digest his thesis and is a disingenuous and skewed read. Encourage others to read the whole tweet and form their own opinion instead.

I would hope anyone would do the same and not just take my word for it. That’s why I provided the link. I stand by my reading.

Re: Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs

#830

Post by Animats » Sun, Apr 13, 2025, 9:39 PM UTC

Aurornis wrote: post #697

Eavolution wrote: post #689

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hang on are tarriffs not effective on date of purchase? I'm not American but it seems madness to apply them at any other time as then no one knows what will actually need paid if you've someone like Trump changing them frequently.

Applied at time of passing through customs. More typical policy would give 90 days notice so businesses could plan ahead. This policy was implemented far too fast with far too high of numbers and now it’s also changing rapidly. It doesn’t make sense. > I'm not American but it seems madness to apply them at any other time I’m American and I fully agree it’s madness. This administration clearly doesn’t understand or ev…

Right. The normal way this works is that when you buy something to be imported into the US, you compute the tariffs and post a "customs bond" with CBP at the same time you pay for the product. When the shipment arrives in the US, the customs bond is used to pay the tariff, and the shipment is released by CBP. Shipping companies such as DHL integrate this into their systems so the end user doesn't have to deal with it directly. To the purchaser, it looks like tariffs are paid when the product is ordered. That's the happy path, taken by most imports.

But when tariffs change faster than it takes to get the shipment from source to destination, the bond won't be for the right amount. You then enter the wonderful world of "insufficient bonds". Here's "Understanding Insufficient Customs Bonds in Nine Easy Steps", which outlines the process and tries to sell you on a service that deals with the problem.[1]

Coming May 2: the end of "de miniumus" customs exemptions for small packages under $800 value. Goodbye, Shein, Ali Express, and dropshippers. Unless, of course, the rules are changed again.

[1] https://www.afcinternationalllc.com/customs-brokerage-news/u...