suspends again the return of tariffs on GPUs

In recent years we have witnessed firsthand how the price of graphics cards has varied enormously. This nightmare for gamers has been driven by a variety of factors such as crypto mining, the chip shortage from the pandemic or the tariffs that the United States imposed on products made in China.

The tariffs, which went into effect about five years ago during the Donald Trump administration, led several GPU companies to announce price increases for their products. Joe Biden’s White House, however, has been applying a “temporary” suspension to graphics tariffs since March 2022.

Everything could have changed a week ago

The aforementioned movement by the United States materialized through a hundred exclusions from the tariff scheme that had to be renewed again and again. The last one was scheduled to expire last May 31which would have marked the return of the aforementioned tariffs and a presumed price increase for GPUs.

However, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) published a notice ahead of the deadline announcing that the United States will continue to waive tariffs on GPUs until May 31, 2025. And, from that date, they will be able to extend the deadline once again.

The USTR is key to this entire story. We are talking about the office that advises the president on international trade matters and that on this occasion he has recommended extend once again the return of Trump-era tariffs to give American firms more time to move production out of China.

And this is where we find an interesting point. Remember how we said that in 2022 Biden implemented a temporary suspension of tariffs? Well, this measure came after American companies such as NVIDIA and Zotac begged the government for relief because many of their factories were located in China.

The tariffs were harming the companies that they were in some way supposed to protect. At that time the USTR understood that these firms had had difficulties in moving your production outside the Asian giant due to the challenges posed by the pandemic, but the request still stands: if they want to avoid tariffs, they must move their factories.

While all of this has the United States and China as protagonists, it is no secret that the price of graphics cards has increased globally, so the return of tariffs could affect the budget of consumers living outside the United States. Joined.

It is not possible to predict what will happen May 31, 2025. By then the White House may still be under the reins of Biden or, on the contrary, it may be under those of Trump. It is also unclear whether companies will eventually move production outside of China, possibly to destinations such as Taiwan or India.

Images | Meadow Marie | Xavier Foucrier | Alejandro Luengo

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