Is Wall Street tanking not enough? Let’s really get the tech industry’s nerves shaking by floating the prospect of full-blown tariffs on all Chinese imports.
That’s what the Trump Administration is preparing in the event that President Donald Trump’s talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping fall through.
The new tariffs could come as early as December and would cover all goods that aren’t already affected, much of them technology-related. Overall, the tariffs would cover about US$257 billion worth of goods.
That spells trouble for many hardware-producing tech companies, who have so far managed to elude the worst of the tariffs. For example, Apple saw its AirPods, HomePod, and Apple Watch escapes unscathed from the September round of tariffs.
The December date for new tariffs would mean they would coincide with the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday in February, usually a boom time for sales and promotions in China.