Trump tariffs, April 12 -- US President Donald Trump's administration exempted smartphones, computers, and other electronics from its reciprocal tariffs, potentially cushioning consumers from sticker shock while benefiting US tech giants such as Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. The move also partially dialled down its escalating trade and tariff war with China.

The exclusions, published by the US Customs and Border Protection office, excluded smartphones, laptops, hard drives, computer processors, memory chips, and other products from the global levies Trump rolled out a week ago.

The move narrows the scope of the levies by excluding products from Trump's 125 per cent China tariff and his baseline 10 per cent global tariff on near...