President Trump said Thursday that he plans to raise the tariff on imported good from China to a new high of 20 percent, potentially raising the prices of imported technology products even higher.
A Trump post on the Truth Social network said that he would impose tariffs of 25 percent on goods imported from Canada and Mexico on March 4, according to the Associated Press.
“We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the USA, and therefore, until it stops, or is seriously limited, the proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled,” the Republican president wrote, according to the AP. “China will likewise be charged an additional 10 percent Tariff on that date.”
Trump had already assessed a 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports, an effective tax that will essentially be passed along to consumers. Now that figure will be 20 percent.
In response, Acer has already announced a 10 percent price hike on PCs, based on the tariffs alone. Trump has also declared plans to charge a separate 25 percent tariff on chip imports by April 2, potentially spiking prices even higher.
As the AP pointed out, Trump has backed down from his demands before, placing a 30-day suspension on the original, proposed tariffs for Canada and Mexico. But those appear to be back on the table, as well as higher prices for Chinese tech products.
Author: Mark Hachman, Senior Editor, PCWorld
Mark has written for PCWorld for the last decade, with 30 years of experience covering technology. He has authored over 3,500 articles for PCWorld alone, covering PC microprocessors, peripherals, and Microsoft Windows, among other topics. Mark has written for publications including PC Magazine, Byte, eWEEK, Popular Science and Electronic Buyers' News, where he shared a Jesse H. Neal Award for breaking news. He recently handed over a collection of several dozen Thunderbolt docks and USB-C hubs because his office simply has no more room.