VIDEO: Would you buy an iPhone or sneakers made by these guys?

President Trump has said that the point of all these tariffs on foreign-made goods is to not only address unfairness in the global trading system, but to bring jobs and factories back to America. Soon (he says) there will be lots of good jobs in factories like those to be found in places like Xinjiang province, in the Worker's Paradise that is China.

What would winning the trade war with China look like? Something like this, perhaps?

 

Yes, that's Chinese Communist propaganda, but it has got a lot of people thinking... even the Donald, who yesterday announced that smartphones and computers will be exempt from reciprocal tariffs, including the 125% levies imposed on Chinese imports. 

The apparent flip-flop comes after concerns from Amerian tech companies that the price of such gadgets could skyrocket, because many of them are made in China or use Chinese-made parts. The exemptions also include other electronic devices and components, including semiconductors, solar cells and memory cards. 

Some estimates suggested iPhone prices and other electronic goods in America would have gone up three times if the costs of the tariffs had been passed on to consumers. The US of A is a major market for iPhones, while Apple accounted for more than half of its smartphones sales last year. As much as 80% of Apple's iPhones intended for sale in America are made in China, with the remaining 20% made in India. 

Along with fellow smartphone giants such as Samsung, Apple has been trying to diversify its supply chains to avoid over-reliance on China in recent years. India and Vietnam emerged as frontrunners for additional manufacturing hubs. As tariffs took effect, Apple reportedly looked to speed up and increase its production of India-produced devices in recent days. 

President Trump had planned a host of steep tariffs on countries around the world set to go into effect this week. But on Wednesday, he quickly reversed course, announcing that he would implement a 90-day pause for countries hit by higher US tariffs - except China - whose tariffs he raised to 145%.

Trump said the Chinese tariff increase was because of the country's readiness to retaliate with its own 84% levy on US goods. In a dramatic change of policy, Trump said all countries that had not retaliated against US tariffs would receive a reprieve – and only face a blanket US tariff of 10% – until July. The White House then said the move was a negotiating tactic to extract more favourable trade terms from other countries.

Says Walt (pulling at the outside corners of his eyes to make them look kinda slanty), rotsa ruck with that.