US President Donald Trump has called for Apple to produce more in the US. The statement follows a filing by Apple with the US Trade Representative warning that further US sanctions against China could lead to higher prices for its products in the US, the Wall Street Journal reports.
In a tweet on 08 September, Trump said that if Apple wants to avoid tariffs on its products, it should make those devices in the US rather than China. He wrote: "Start building new plants now. Exciting!"
The company said in its filing to the US Trade Representative that the administration’s proposed USD 200 billion in tariffs would "divert our resources and disadvantage Apple compared to foreign competitors" and lead to higher "consumer prices, lower overall US economic growth, and other unintended economic consequences."
In his tweet, Trump rebutted those claims: "Apple prices may increase because of the massive Tariffs we may be imposing on China—but there is an easy solution where there would be ZERO tax, and indeed a tax incentive. Make your products in the United States instead of China," he said.
Apple assembles most of its products, including the iPhone, in China. While the iPhone, which accounts for about two-thirds of Apple’s total sales, hasn’t been affected by the tariffs yet, this could change if the Trump administration follows through with earlier threats of levies on USD 500 billion in imports, which would cover just about everything China exports to the US.
The proposed tariffs of up to 25 percent on specific products imported from China to the US would hit "a wide range of Apple products," the company said, including its Mac mini computer, chargers, adapters, specialized manufacturing machinery and more.
Aple CEO Tim Cook personally has encouraged Trump to avoid a major trade confrontation with China, telling the president during one-on-one meetings dating back to late 2016 that it would negatively affect American companies including Apple, a person familiar with those meetings told the WSJ. Cook has expressed optimism the U.S.-China trade situation would "get sorted out because there’s an inescapable mutuality" between the two countries. "Each country can only prosper if the other does," he said in the summer call with analysts. "And of course, the world needs both US and China to prosper, for the world to do well."
