Smart watches, speakers escape Trump’s tariffs

Many high-profile consumer technology items such as “smart” watches and speakers were spared by the U.S. tariffs that hit some $200 billion worth of Chinese products.

But the less flashy home modems, routers and internet gateways that make them work weren’t so lucky.

Consumer tech industry officials and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency say they expect billions of dollars’ worth of these products, including those designed for home use, will be subject to the 10 per cent tariffs activated on Monday.

The move will effectively create a two-tiered tariff structure for consumer internet, with many products, such as Fitbit (FIT.N) fitness trackers, Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O) watch and Amazon.comInc’s (AMZN.O) Echo smart speaker being favoured over routers and internet gateways from Arris International (ARRS.O), Netgear (NTGR.O), D-Link (2332.TW) and others.

“We’re operating under the assumption that the tens of millions of devices that deliver high-speed internet into consumers’ homes will be impacted by these tariffs,” said Jim Brennan, Arris’ Seniour Vice President of supply chain, quality and operations.

“It feels anti-consumer because our devices are what enables the core of consumer tech,” Brennan told Reuters.

The modems, routers, switching and networking gear that keep the internet functioning were not included in a newly created U.S. tariff code that was exempted from the latest China tariffs, a spokesperson for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency said.

The agency has made no distinction between consumer-use modems and routers and the commercial network equipment used by data centers and broadband internet providers.

Most new internet-connected devices had been lumped into a broad category in the U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule, 85176200, “Machines for the reception, conversion and transmission or regeneration of voice, images or other data, including switching and routing apparatus.”

The catch-all category saw $23 billion in U.S. imports from China and $47.6 billion from the world last year. It was the largest component of U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest tariffs targeting Chinese goods.

The U.S. Trade Representative’s office had said it was breaking out items such as smart watches, fitness trackers, Bluetooth audio streaming devices and smart speakers into a new subcategory that would be exempted, but it gave few details.