The Office of the United States Trade Representative has reinstated 352 products into its exclusion list, which governs the Chinese imports subject to increased, punitive tariffs as part of the US-China trade war. The revised listing now once again excludes Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) from the added duties. PCBs are used to manufacture motherboards, GPUs, and a range of other electronic components.

The exclusions include “graphics processing modules” and “printed circuit assemblies, constituting unfinished logic board,” which cover PC graphics cards and motherboards. Additional exclusions were granted for PC desktop cases and trackpad units valued at over $100, but not for power supplies exceeding 500 watts.

The development means PCBs coming from China are now free from the 7.5%-25% additional import duties levied at them, which went into effect in January 2021 when the provisions excluding these products expired.

Asus has confirmed that it is slashing graphics card prices by up to 25%. In an email statement earlier today, an Asus representative added that price reductions will be applied to its entry-level, mid-range and high-performance models (not just the RX 6500 XT thankfully). The company cited cuts to the tariffs on US imports from China as a major reason behind the MSRP reductions.

"As a result of the latest tariff lift on Chinese imports from the Office of the United States Trade Representative, Gamers and PC enthusiasts will see lower prices on ASUS GeForce RTX 30-series graphic cards starting on April 1st, 2022," an Asus rep

USTR enacted the exclusions to prevent the Trump-era tariffs from causing “severe economic harm” to US interests, including for small businesses and critical supply chains. Numerous tech companies—including Nvidia, Apple, and HP—had urged the Biden administration to lift the tariffs on electronics components that continue to be chiefly made in China.

GPUs "are not manufactured in the US and in only limited amounts in Taiwan,” Nvidia told the USTR in December. “Efforts to create new capacity in countries that presently do not manufacture such products (such as the US and Vietnam) were unsuccessful and were severely hampered by the fallout from COVID-19.”