US car tariffs apply to all computers and hard drives

The United States’ auto tariffs hit an unexpected victim: the PC market. In the long List of affected product categories there is a four -digit customs number. According to the international code, 8471 comprises generalized:

“Automatic data processing machines and their units; magnetic or optical readers, machines for recording data on data carriers in coded form and machines for processing such data, otherwise neither mentioned nor included.”

This means that all computers are talked about-be it desktop PCs, notebooks, MacBooks or Macs. Depending on the design, game consoles could also be included. Magnetic readers stand for hard drives, but not SSDs strictly speaking. When importing from abroad, 25 percent inches are due.

Since all major manufacturers have their devices assembled in Asia, the surcharge applies to almost all computers for the US market. In the USA should Razer is currently canceling pre -orders for notebooksthat were abandoned before the introduction of the tariffs.

Actually, the auto tariffs should – the name – suggest – aim at foreign cars and components. It is not known whether the US government only wanted to declare hardware for infotainment systems and accidentally included all computers or the whole intention. Symptoms are buyers in the United States – and possibly in Europe, manufacturers should distribute the additional costs globally in the future.

Mixed up

The 25 percent car tariffs are currently the only known surcharge for complete computers. The US government currently excludes the country-specific tariffs of up to 50 percent from products that are affected by the auto tariffs.

This has the interesting side effect that the auto tariffs could make hardware from Asia less more expensive than assumed. A MacBook that usually costs $ 1500 and is assembled in Vietnam would be potentially “only” expensive in 1875 instead of $ 2190. With 46 percent, Vietnam got one of the highest flat -rate customs sets – Apple has partly produced there.

A similar invoice could also apply to the new Switch 2 if you consider it to be processed as a data that is otherwise 34 percent inches for Japanese products. Nintendo has already canceled the pre -orders in the United States to evaluate the situation.

A big question mark stops behind chips. The US government keeps separate tariffs open to semiconductors. If such comes, you could also make hardware more expensive.