Great timing for the summer - the President talking about the EU.
Truth Details | Truth Social
The European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of taking advantage of the United States on TRADE, has been very difficult to deal with. Their powerful Trade Barriers, Vat Taxes, ridiculous Corporate Penalties, Non-Monetary Trade Barriers, Monetary Manipulations, unfair and unjustified lawsuits against Americans Companies, and more, have led to a Trade Deficit with the U.S. of more than $250,000,000 a year, a number which is totally unacceptable. Our discussions with them are going nowhere! Therefore, I am recommending a straight 50% Tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025. There is no Tariff if the product is built or manufactured in the United States. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
Truth Details | Truth Social
I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhone’s 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 U.S. Thank your for your attention to this matter!
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/economy/trump-s-threat-of-25-tariff-on-iphones-makes-price-hikes-more-likely/ar-AA1Fn1z8
Apple is expected to unveil four new iPhone models in a matter of months — and they might cost more than you expect.
On Friday morning, President Donald Trump threatened to impose a significant new tariff on iPhones, seemingly in hopes of forcing the company to produce its most lucrative product line domestically.
“I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhone’s that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the U.S. Thank your [sic] for your attention to this matter!”
Most consumers buying an iPhone around the world wind up with a device produced in China, but Apple CEO Tim Cook said in early May that the majority of new iPhones arriving in the United States would come from assembly facilities in India.
Currently, Apple builds none of its iPhone models in the United States. Even if it wanted to, the process of developing a domestic production pipeline would be staggeringly expensive and would take years — the first American-made iPhones probably wouldn’t ship until after Trump leaves office, said Gerrit Schneemann, a senior analyst at Counterpoint Research.
“Would that be enough appeasement? I don’t know,” he said.
Notably, Trump did not call out any of the company’s other products — like Apple Watches, Mac computers, AirPods and iPads — that Cook indicated would largely be sourced from Vietnam.
Cook also previously said that, assuming trade policy remained stable, the company expected to take on an additional $900 million in costs directly related to tariffs. An additional 25 percent tariff complicates that math further and makes it far less likely that Apple — even with its vast cash reserve — keeps iPhone prices stable by eating those costs.
Schneemann said that, while a price hike on Apple’s iPhone 17 models was already likely, “this latest development makes it almost a certainty.”
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the wake of Trump’s announcement, several questions remain.
In an appearance on Fox after the president made his statement, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Trump is “trying to bring back precision manufacturing to the U.S.” But it’s not clear how effective the president’s threat will in be in forcing Apple to move iPhone production stateside.
Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst at TF Securities International, said in a post on X that — if Trump’s tariff plan holds — Apple would be financially better off continuing to produce all iPhones overseas.
That means the iPhones you may buy down the road probably will be more expensive than they used to be, but not as much as some estimates of what a fully American iPhone could cost. (One slightly outlandish guess pegs a U.S.-made iPhone’s price at around $3,500.)
There’s also the question of implementation: Can Trump even make this tariff happen?
Tariffs generally apply to broad categories of products rather than a specific product from a single company, said Simon Lester, president of WorldTradeLaw.net and a fellow at the Baker Institute International Economics Program. That makes trying to implement this hyper-specific tariff “both a practical and legal challenge.”
“It’s hard to see what statute would apply here,” he added.
$2,150 for an iPhone? Trump tariffs are ‘category 5 price storm’ | Trump tariffs | The Guardian
This is deeply problematic for the California-based firm because Trump has imposed “reciprocal” tariffs – a tax on imports – of 125% on goods imported into the US from China. On Thursday it became clear a separate 20% fentanyl-linked border tax would be levied on top of this, taking the total burden to 145%. Apple faces paying a hefty sum on any iPhone brought into the US, which is likely to be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.
Investors in one of America’s golden stocks have panicked at the prospect of its sales suffering as a consequence. Although shares in Apple have recovered some of their losses since Trump’s “liberation day” announcement on 2 April, the company had still lost more than $300bn in value by market open on Friday.
In an example of potential price increases, analysts at investment bank UBS have warned that the price of an iPhone 16 Pro Max (with 256GB of storage) could rise by 79% from $1,199 (£915) to about $2,150 (£1,600), based on a total tariff of 145%.