US President Donald Trump and Apple CEO Tim Cook had a chit-chat with the press while exploring the Flextronics computer production place in Austin, Texas, on November 20, 2019. Trump, in a social media update on Friday, declared that Apple would have to cough up a tariff of 25% or more for iPhones crafted outside the US. The big man in charge said, “I told Tim Cook ages ago that I want all iPhones sold in the good ol’ US of A to be made right here, not in India or anywhere else. If that doesn’t happen, Apple gotta pay a hefty 25% to the US.”
Shares of Apple took a nosedive by over 2% in premarket trading. The production of Apple’s top-notch phone mainly goes down in China, but they’ve been shifting gears to India ’cause of the sweet trade vibes with the US. Some Wall Street peeps reckon that moving iPhone-making to the US would bump up the price tag by a solid 25%. Dan Ives from Wedbush threw out an estimate of $3,500 for a US-made iPhone, while the current iPhone 16 Pro is chillin’ at around $1,000. The latest jab at Apple from Trump comes after a hot streak of pressuring the company and Cook to amp up the production game at home. Apparently, Trump and Cook had a little rendezvous at the White House the other day. Apple kept mum on the whole situation.
This is the latest scoop on the Apple-Trump drama. Who knew iPhones could cause such a stir, right? Not really sure why this matters, but hey, it’s making headlines. Stay tuned for more updates on this rollercoaster ride.
