US extends tariff exemption on GPUs and PCBs for another nine months

[mongeese]

In context: In March 2022, the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced it was exempting certain categories of Chinese products from the tariffs introduced under Trump. Those exemptions were scheduled to expire on December 31 but have been extended for an additional nine months.

Then-President Donald Trump directed the USTR to create the tariffs in 2018 amid the trade war with China. After the Biden administration took power, the USTR started an investigation into the usefulness of the tariffs and based on its initial findings, granted exemptions for 352 product categories out of a possible 549. Their extension "will help align further consideration of these exclusions with the ongoing comprehensive four-year review," the USTR explained in a brief blog.

Nvidia and Zotac were among the companies requesting that GPUs be granted an exemption this time last year. They claimed that the tariffs, which were as high as 25 percent in some cases, were compounding the problems of supply chain disruptions, shortages, and unprecedented demand. Other tech companies including Apple and Intel were also writing to the USTR with their own woes about the tariffs.

When the USTR finally relented in March, the GPU market was already starting to cool and it took just days for OEMs to start announcing sizable discounts and price cuts.

Even though the silicon parts of GPUs are mostly made in Taiwan and Korea, the remaining components like the PCB and cooler are almost exclusively made and assembled in China. Nvidia and the like argue that because there is no alternative to manufacturing them in China, the tariffs impose an excessive burden on the consumer.

In a statement, Nvidia shared that "efforts to create new capacity in countries that presently do not manufacture such products (such as the US and Vietnam) were unsuccessful and were severely hampered by the fallout from Covid-19."

The USTR's investigation concludes its second phase, which asks for feedback from all interested parties, on January 17. The first phase queried just the parties that claimed to benefit from the tariffs and ended earlier in the year. The USTR will soon begin analyzing its data and deliberating, and will hopefully have a more concrete plan to announce before the new extension expires on September 30.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/97010-us-extends-tariff-exemption-gpus-pcbs-another-nine.html

 

[Rq3EWAq]

"(...) there is no alternative to manufacturing them in China, the tariffs impose an excessive burden on the consumer."
Hahaha, of course. American consumers will pay this bill.
Massive factories, semiconductor fabs etc. will not build themselves on US soil overnight.

 

[RudyBob]

There are a lot of gamers at the dept that made that decision

 

[Theinsanegamer]

"(...) there is no alternative to manufacturing them in China, the tariffs impose an excessive burden on the consumer."
Hahaha, of course. American consumers will pay this bill.
Massive factories, semiconductor fabs etc. will not build themselves on US soil overnight.

4 and a half years sure is though. At this point its blind green that is keeping the manufacturing in china, and once the tariffs finally kick in somebody will start making cards outside china.

 

[Mr Majestyk]

Wise decision, but ultimately the world needs to wean itself off China. Still it was the west that dismantled their own manufacturing to empower China and now they are all whining like babies over their own gross incompetence.

 

[Julnor]

Tariffs were an excuse to jack up prices but they never went back down. At this point they're more than baked in, I don't think they can continue these prices in general. Maybe at the halo level, but that's one product only. We'll see though.

 

[takaozo]

Oh dear look who is "worried" about customers here.

Imaginary dialog and a pamphlet next.

The Leather boy: Who are those USTR guys? don't they know that only I can jack the prices here?
The Legal team: Yes Bo$$ we will not allow those guys such thing.
The Leather boy: How dare them to skin the poor customers more than I did. Hey look at my new leather jacket, it's brand new from this skinning campaign.
The Legal team: Yes Bo$$ you look so good and the new jacket makes your eyes so bright.

The Leather boy: Now since we stopped those USTR guys raising the price, can we jack up the price and blame them?
The Marketing team: Yes Bo$$!! The will of the Lord be done!