How Trump's tariffs could affect China's tech industry

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President Trump says he』ll slap tariffs on billions of dollarsworth of Chinese goods -- and that could make many Chineseelectronics more expensive in the US.


We won』t know for a few days what exactly will be targeted, but thetop four Chinese exports to the US are all tech products: Cellphones, computers, telecommunications equipment and computeraccessories.


Unsurprisingly, cell phones are by far the largest single category,being almost double the next item on the list. Among those are ZTE-- well behind Apple and Samsung but challenging LG for third placein the US.
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ZTE is the fourth-biggest smartphone brand in the US.


But what makes this story complicated is that it isn』t justChinese companies exporting products to the US: American companiesare too. Reuters says Apple』s iPhone is responsible forabout 22% of the US$70 billion in cell phones that China sends tothe US.


And American companies likely play a big role in the second biggestimported product: Computers. Apple also makes many computers inChina, and Lenovo is the fourth largest PC vendor in the US,accounting for nearly 12% of shipments in the last quarter.


Telecommunications equipment isn』t something consumers directlydeal with, but they are vital for the operation of mobilenetworks and the internet. And one of the biggest companies in thisspace is Huawei -- a company accused by the US of having close tieswith the Chinese government.


The US also imported $31 billion worth of computer accessories fromChina. Anker, one of the most popular brands on Amazon for cables,chargers and batteries is Chinese.


How much Anker or anyone else will be affected by tariffs -- andhow much you』ll have to pay as a result -- is still unknown. Untilthe US government reveals exactly what』s on the list, we can onlyguess at what may be taxed. But given how much technology is sentfrom China to the US, it』s likely that some of these products willbe targeted.