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Pegatron says the uncertainty makes it hard to make contingency plans.
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Mortgage rates are easing due to a combination of calmer financial markets and a lull in Trump's tit-for-tat trade war.
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Amazon has refuted a report which said it was planning to tell consumers how much of a product's price was due to the impact of tariffs that the Trump administration has imposed on imports, particularly those from China. According to Punchbowl News, Amazon was going to display this right next to an item's total price. However, that's not the case, Amazon said in a statement.
"The team that runs our ultra low cost Amazon Haul store has considered listing import charges on certain products," an Amazon spokesperson told The Washington Post (which is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos). "This was never a consideration for the main Amazon site and nothing has been implemented on any Amazon properties."
During Tuesday's White House press briefing, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to a question regarding the Punchbowl report and called the purported plan "a hostile and political act by Amazon." Citing a Reuters report from 2021, Leavitt claimed that Amazon had partnered with "a Chinese propaganda arm."
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Temu and Shein customers are facing high prices and dwindling choices.
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The US House of Representatives has passed the Take It Down Act, a bipartisan bill that criminalizes the "publication of non-consensual, sexually exploitative images," including AI-generated deepfakes that depict "identifiable, real people." It would also compel platforms, such as social networks, to remove those images within 48 hours of being notified. The bill enjoyed overwhelming support in Congress and was cleared for approval by President Trump with a vote of 409 to 2. It passed Senate unanimously in February, and Trump, who previously talked about it while addressing Congress, is expected to sign the bill into law.
Nearly every state in the country has its own laws revolving around revenge porn, and there are 20 states that already have laws that cover deepfakes. Take It Down's authors, who include Senator Ted Cruz, explained that those laws "vary in classification of crime and penalty and have uneven criminal prosecution." Victims are also still having a tough time getting their images removed under those laws. However, it's that takedown provision in the bill that has raised concerns among critics.
According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the provision could potentially apply to any image that's perceived as sexual or intimate even if it's not revenge porn. It has much broader definitions of what a "non-consensual, sexually exploitative image" is compared to its narrower definitions in other parts of the bill, the organization said. In addition, the EFF argued that the bill lacks safeguards
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De minimis exceptions are a rule that allows items imported to the US with a declared value of under $800 to be exempt from import taxes. This is what enables popular China-based marketplaces like Temu, Shein, and AliExpress to offer items at prices far lower than even companies like Amazon or Walmart. Though de minimis (literally "with trifles" in Latin) is a policy designed to avoid overincumbering taxation and customs on items that would be more expensive to track than the tax actually collected, US president Trump has declared an end to the de minimis exemptions in addition to incredibly onerous taxes on imports from China. De minimus is scheduled to be suspended on May 2nd, subjecting most items to the same 145 percent import taxes as other Chinese goods.
"Due to recent changes in global trade rules and tariffs, our operating expenses have gone up," says a message on Temu's website. "To keep offering the product you love without compromising on quality, we will be making price adjustments starting April 25, 2025."
While the 145 percent tax rate does not a
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Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders are technically open in North America, but if you haven't managed to grab one already, you may have a tough time doing so before the console's June 5 release date. After what felt like a long delay from Nintendo's original April 9 pre-order date, the company finally opened up pre-orders in the US and Canada on April 24. A couple of (technically messy) hours later, stock at third-party retailers such as Walmart, Target and Best Buy promptly sold out. GameStop opened up its pre-orders later that morning and quickly met the same fate, with the company later confirming its online stock had dried up as well.
Some users were reportedly able to order through Walmart as late as Saturday, April 26, but as of our latest update, the retailer has taken down one of its
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Apple may shift all of its US iPhone production from China to India in an effort to avoid Trump's tariffs, according to a report from The Financial Times. The goal is to manufacture all 60 million iPhone devices sold to American customers in India by 2026, doubling current production numbers in the nation. That would be a stark shift, as Apple has manufactured the majority of its iPhone products in China since they debuted in 2007.
Apple first started building iPhones in India back in 2017 and late in 2023, pledged to build up to 50 million iPhones in the nation within three years with suppliers Foxconn and Tata. With that in mind, it would only have to boost that number by 10 million to achieve the new 60 million unit goal.
Those tariffs of up to 145 percent announced earlier this month have thrown electronic manufacturing into turmoil, despite announced exemptions for smartphones and computers. India, by contrast, has only been subject to a 10 percent US tariff. However, the nation could still be subject to a 26 percent tariff once a 90-day grace period is lifted, particularly as Trump has called India a "tariff abuser" and "tariff king."
Apple
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The Trump administration is continuing an aggressive effort to rein in the power of the biggest tech companies. Here's what to know.
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Sweeping tariffs are hitting tech giants hard, shaking the industry's confidence in a president they hoped would boost their fortunes.
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