The U.S. federal government denied Apple’s request to be exempt from the 25% tariffs that affected some components of the new Mac Pro.
Apple revealed last week that it will make the Mac Pro at its plant in Austin, Texas which some observers thought might be key to getting relief from Trump’s tariffs. The U.S. Trade Representative posted its decision today saying Apple didn’t show that the tariffs would cause severe economic harm to the U.S.
Exemption requests were submitted by Apple for 15 Mac Pro parts. Earlier this month the USTR approved exemption requests for 10 of the components. Today’s denial impacts the Mac Pro power adapter, charging cable, cooling system for the processor, and a circuit board that manages input and output ports.
Trump tweeted about Apple’s decision to keep Mac Pro manufacturing in the US today. In July, Trump said that the Mac Pro would not get any special treatment when it comes tariffs.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1178747450120708097
According to the Bloomberg, the USTR said the Mac Pro parts weren’t exempted because Apple “failed to show that the imposition of additional duties on the particular product would cause severe economic harm to you or other US interests.”
Apple gave fans a peek at the new Mac Pro during its WWDC 2019 keynote. The company still hasn’t revealed full pricing details even though the launch is still slated for Fall 2019 on the Mac Pro website.
