Trump Threatens Apple and the European Union With Steep New Tariffs

President Trump is threatening to impose high tariffs on a major American company, Apple, and the European Union. In a Friday morning post on Truth Social, Mr. Trump said, “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.,” the president added. Minutes later, Mr. Trump posted that discussions with the European Union are “going nowhere” and he is “recommending a straight 50% Tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025.”Mr. Trump has mentioned Apple’s production of iPhones in India in trade negotiations with New Delhi. Earlier this month, he said he was not satisfied that Apple is moving about 25 percent of its iPhone production out of China and to India. On May 15, Mr. Trump said he was “not interested in [Apple] building in India” instead of China, and said the tech giant should increase its production in America. The comment reportedly frustrated officials at New Delhi who are trying to negotiate a decrease of the 26 percent tariff Mr. Trump is set to impose on India in early July. The New York Times described the success in convincing Apple to shift some of its production away from China to India as a “point of pride” for New Delhi. It is unclear if Mr. Trump can single out a company for tariffs. Representatives for Apple did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication. The decision to impose tariffs on iPhones may lead the company to raise its prices to cover the cost of importing its smartphones. Mr. Trump has previously said companies should “eat the tariffs” and not pass on the costs to consumers. However, several large retailers, such as Best Buy, have already said that they might start raising prices due to the tariffs. The maker of Barbie, Mattel, also said it would raise its prices due to the tariffs.Meanwhile, Walmart said it may start increasing prices. A spokesman for the retailer, Joe Pennington, said the company will “keep prices as low as we can for as long as we can given the reality of small retail margins.”The threat of a 50 percent tariff on the European Union as early as next weekend comes as Bloomberg reports that the 27-nation bloc proposed a new trade deal with America, which offers a plan for both sides to reduce tariffs to zero for what the outlet calls “non-sensitive agricultural products” and industrial goods. The European Commission’s trade chief, Maros Šefčovič, and the American trade representative, Jamieson Greer, spoke by phone “hours” before Mr. Trump’s post, according to NBC News.

Trump Threatens Apple and the European Union With Steep New Tariffs

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