US trade regulators on Friday approved 10 out of 15 requests for tariff exemptions filed by Apple Inc amid a broader reprieve on levies on computer parts, according to a public docket published by the US Trade Representative and a Federal Register notice. The move by US officials could make it easier for both Apple and small makers of gaming computers to assemble devices in the United States by lowering the costs of importing parts.
Apple did not say why it requested the exemptions, but the requests were for components such as partially completed circuit boards. Apple manufactures its Mac Pro computers in Texas, making the machine immune from tariffs, but such intermediate parts were subject to the levies. Apple did not immediately return a request for comment.
The Mac Pro computer starts at $6,000 and is intended for users such as music and motion picture studios. Due to its specialized design, the device has never sold in large numbers. But it became a political flashpoint earlier this year when The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple was moving production to China.
Apple never publicly commented on its exact production plans, but US tariffs on Chinese goods complicated the assembly of PCs in the United States. The third list of US tariffs that went into effect last year placed levies on both some fully assembled PCs as well as the major components to make them, meaning manufacturers faced cost increases even if they made machines in the United States.