Apple trims losses on report products to be spared from China tariffs

Elijah Nouvelage | Reuters

Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook speaks at the Apple Worldwide Developer conference (WWDC) in San Jose, California, June 4, 2018.

Apple shares trimmed some losses Monday after a report from Bloomberg that the Apple Watch and AirPods will be spared from the latest round of proposed tariffs on China.

The stock had traded as much as 2.3 percent lower earlier in the day, but rebounded from session lows immediately following the report. Shares were last seen roughly 1.7 percent down.

Apple said earlier this month that President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods would affect the Apple Watch and AirPods as well as adapters and chargers for a host of products. Apple said the tariffs would raise prices for consumers.

The hardware giant sent a letter to the U.S. Trade Representative asking the office to reconsider.

The U.S. will now spare a “category or high-tech products,” Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources. A new list of proposed tariffs will be released as soon Monday, the report says, and will not include the tariff code that covered the Apple Watch, the wireless AirPod headphones and similar products.

Shares of wearable fitness tracker Fitbit also jumped off session lows following the report.