Trump’s tariffs may increase the price of laptops, smartphones and artificial intelligence

The world’s most valuable chip manufacturer and the world’s largest electronic product contract manufacturer Announce In November last year, Foxconn was built a large factory in Gwadahara, Mexica to assemble NVIDIA artificial intelligence servers.

Starting in early 2025, Nivine The two companies said they would begin to produce GB200 NVL72 server racks in Mexico.

This announcement reflects that if President Donald Trump’s comprehensive tariffs take effect, it may face risks. trump card It is expected to announce more details of the specific tariffs on imported products from China, Canada and Mexico on Saturday.

and apple,, Microsoft and Tesla Investors will announce the revenue of the December this week, and they will want to know how Trump’s threat to the major tariffs on major US trading partners may affect their business.

Those companies have already Caught and Proposed tariff Consumer goods from China in 2018, and China RevengeEssence But Trump proposes to levy tariffs on Mexico electronics will be a new issue.

This is because many companies have expanded their production in the country through so -called near -shore production to respond to the interference caused by the new crown epidemic and tariffs on the first Trump administration.

“If we raise tariffs on Mexico, said, Richard Barnett, the chief marketing officer, said:” If we improve the tariffs on Mexico, they are actually punishing companies that have made great progress, try to achieve great progress and reorganize their supply chain. “” “” Electronic component price and delivery time.

According to data from the International Trade Commission, Mexican’s electronic products imports increased from US $ 86 billion in 2019 to $ 103 billion in 2023, accounting for about 18%of the total imports of electronic products. It is the second largest source of imported from the United States, second only to China, and China’s import value reached US $ 146 billion in 2023.

Except for Foxconn, Chinese electronic manufacturers Association and Hisense Over the past few years, the company has announced a lot in Mexico to build a factory in Mexico. Weikuki, a small tool and electronic product contract manufacturer headquartered in Singapore, said that it is the largest exporter in Halisco, Mexican.

Simon Geale, executive vice president of Bain’s supply chain consulting company Proxima, said that Trump may want to block a “loophole”, that is, Chinese companies can avoid tariffs by expanding in Mexico.

“If you look at China’s investment in Mexico, you will find that in the past three to five years, it has reached its peak,” Gil said.

Despite Mexico’s economic growth, China is still the largest source of electronic products in the United States. According to data from the Consumer Technology Association of the Trade Organization, China accounts for 78%of smartphones output, 87%of video game consoles, and 79%of notebook computers. CTA. About a quarter of Chinese imported products are electronic products.

Although high -value and high -profit products such as NVIDIA’s GPUs have low sensitivity to tariffs, many of the required parts required for construction Artificial intelligence data center worth billions of dollars Barnit said, for example, communication, storage and power management components are easily affected by price changes and import tariffs. SUPPLYFRAME’s price index showed that after Trump began to threaten tariffs, the price of electronic components in the fourth quarter of 2024 rose 6%year -on -year.

Shortly after Trump won the election, Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, was asked about the potential impact of tariffs.

“No matter what the new government makes, of course, we will support the government. This is our highest mission. Then, we will do our best as usual,” Huang said at the time and added the company to comply with regulations.

Foxconn did not respond to the request of the comment, and Nvidia also refused to comment.

Trade groups, scholars and even the person in charge of the World Trade Organization warn The trade war caused by Trump’s tariffs may slow global trade and increase consumer prices. Analyst It has said that the Trump administration may treat tariffs as a way to negotiate with other countries on drug trafficking and immigration, although the president has denied this.

Bretthaus, a professor of professional practice at Columbia Business School, said: “The four major impacts of my foreseeable tariffs are rising prices, small Federal Reserve interest rate cuts, slower economic growth and new employment opportunities.”

It is unclear how large the specific rate of this tariff is.

During the campaign, Trump talked about a 60% tariff on China and levied 10% of the tariffs on all other imported products. In the first week of taking office, Trump gave up the biggest tariffs, discussed 10% of tariffs on Mexico and Canada, and 25% tariffs on Chinese goods.

60%of tariffs on China will cause a huge blow to American consumers A report Made by CTA.

The price of laptops and tablets may rise by 45%, the price of video game consoles may rise by 40%, and the price of smartphones may rise by 26%. According to CTA, the average price of smartphones rose $ 213.

CTA CEO Gary Shapiro said: “This will affect the unit sales of the unit, which means that the price of each product will rise sharply.”

One of the main differences between these tariffs and 2018 tariffs is that Trump threatened to impose tariffs on all products, while tariffs in 2018 are targeted at specific product codes and categories. Enterprises can apply for exemption for their products.

Whether Trump will fully implement tariffs still remains to be observed. The Washington Post reported earlier this month that the Trump administration is considering the only levy fee In some departmentsEssence

Experts of Columbus Consulting, a consulting company focusing on retailers, said their customers have adjusted their budgets to cope with increased costs. The company suggested that customers suspend strict measures -such as transferring production to other countries or actively storing additional inventory in advance -until they know what it will happen.

“We need to understand the definition of tariffs, the number and time of tariffs, and which products are targeted at.” “We need to understand the definition of tariffs.” You are in a dangerous situation. “

Grag said that attempts to reduce tariff costs may ultimately cost high, whether it is rising shipping prices or the chance of inventory capital occupation. He said that some companies would have to pass the cost to consumers.

However, the uncertainty of import tariffs is not necessarily a huge change in the past few years.

Since the first term of Trump, some electronic products have still levied tariffs. For example, semiconductors from China are currently levying 50% of tariffs. The Biden government basically retains the import tariff system of the first Trump administration, so that enterprises have undergone less severe changes for several years, but many companies still have to cope with import tariffs.

“The prosperity of the supply chain depends on predictability, and the only thing Trump can predict is that he will become unpredictable,” Gil said.