The President of the United States is undoubtedly one of the most powerful men in the world, and it's not just America's foreign enemies that need to beware. Keen to throw his weight around, the POTUS is trying to slap Apple with a new wave of tariffs. This was seemingly in a bid to bring manufacturing back to the USA, but now, a new report has revealed the 'real' reason one of the Big Five has been targeted.
President Donald Trump has been on the warpath since he announced his 'Liberation Day' tariffs on April 2, with things only seeming to get more bizarre after he levied tariffs on a bunch of penguins and was accused of using ChatGPT to crunch the numbers. Elon Musk warned that Tesla could feel the sting of the tariffs, and while it seemed to slip through the net unscathed, Apple might not be as lucky.
There were wild claims that iPhone prices could soon go through the roof, and even if they were made in America, some claim they could cost 2900% more. Although things seemed to settle down for a while, Trump said he had a 'problem' with Apple CEO Tim Cook after it looked like the tech giant would ramp up iPhone production in India as a way to avoid China's increased tariffs.
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Posting on Truth Social, Trump took aim at Cook personally and told the world: "I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhones that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else.
"If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the US."
Much like Elon Musk and Donald Trump's bromance is rumored to be on the rocks, Cook sounds like he's triggered the wrath of the Commander-in-Chief. According to The New York Times, the Apple tariff response is due to Cook missing out on Trump's recent visit to the Middle East. Musk was among the many familiar tech faces in attendance, but there was no sign of Cook. The likes of OpenAI's Sam Altman and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang were in attendance, but while Cook was apparently invited, the fact that he turned it down is said to have rattled Trump.
Note how Trump's Riyadh speech saw him praise Huang while knocking Cook as he said: "I mean, Tim Cook isn’t here but you are."
Speaking to the NYT, Nu Wexler, principal at Four Corners Public Affairs and a former Washington policy communications executive at Google and Facebook, claimed that Cook's 'very public relationship' with Trump has supposedly 'backfired': "It has put Apple at a disadvantage because every move, including a potential concession from Trump, is scrutinized."
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Wexler added that Trump didn't "have much incentive to either go easy on Apple or cut a deal on tariffs," saying "the incentive to crack down is much stronger."
Apple has already bent to some of Trump's wishes, vowing to invest $500 billion in the USA over the next four years, source 19 billion chips from the country, and make AI servers in Houston.
Even though the iPhone overlord managed to swerve those massive 145% China tariffs, even a 25% tariff would undoubtedly trickle down to hit customers in the pocket.