US President Donald Trump on May 23rd twice warned of a 25% tax on Apple, and threatened to impose tariffs on Samsung and other electronics manufacturers if they do not move production to the US. Speaking to reporters on the afternoon of May 23rd, President Trump clarified that the 25% tax warning on Apple would apply to similar products imported into the US by Samsung or any similar manufacturing company. Mr. Trump said that imposing tariffs on all products similar to Apple’s products is to ensure fairness and could start at the end of June. Mr. Trump’s statement came right after news that Apple is finalizing plans to build a $1.5 billion iPhone component manufacturing center in India. Following Mr. Trump’s statement, Apple’s stock immediately fell about 3%.
Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on a specific company’s development strategy seems to go against the indirect pressure approach of previous US presidents. In recent times, Trump has continuously put direct pressure on US companies that are considered to have reacted negatively to the tariff policy, such as Amazon, Walmart and most recently Apple. The US leader has also repeatedly publicly criticized Apple for building phone manufacturing facilities in other countries. US experts estimate that the price of a new iPhone made in the US could range from $1,500 to $3,500 compared to the current $1,199. Being able to produce, assemble an iPhone in the US and sell it at the desired low price seems like a “fairy tale”.