Trade war? Tariffs? How Trump’s election will change technology

The technology industry depends on global trade. Semiconductors, phones, and products in online stores usually cross borders without reaching their destination. And when the global supply chain is mostly functioning, it keeps inflation in check, stimulating the stock market, which generates huge profits for big tech companies.

But the stability of this system is now in question as the US presidential election approaches next week. Both candidates are more protectionist than the free trade consensus of the last two decades. But Donald Trump is on another level. The former president could “radically remake global trade,” the WSJ said recently, by imposing tariffs of 20% on all imports and potentially 60% on imports from China.