After Huawei, US is threatening Apple with a big tariff

US has been troubling Huawei for a long while, but it looks like the foreign authorities have now turned their focus to Apple with a heavy tariff. In case the iPhone maker doesn’t follow the United States’ norms, it needs to pay a hefty duty.

Donald Trump, the President of the US, recently warned Apple to build its US-based iPhones in the same country instead of India or any place outside the United States.

In case Apple doesn’t follow this rule, it will have to pay a tariff of 25% to the US authorities. A similar regulation has been announced for the Galaxy phone maker, Samsung.

Following Huawei chip sanctions, the US is now trying to gain control over Apple and its iPhone sales via tariff. If true, this could lead to further problems for the American tech giant, which is already facing a shipment decline in China.

Apple makes most of its products in China. Even though the company has shifted its production from China to many other countries across China like, India, Vietnam, and Thailand, at least 80% of iPhones are still made in the Chinese facility.

Hence, the new rule could be bad news for Apple.

After Huawei, US is threatening Apple with big tariff (Image Credits: Apple)

Earlier this week, the US was trying to chain Huawei with stricter rules. The foreign authorities declared a worldwide ban on Ascend AI chips and announced the toughest punishment on those violating the new export controls.

Now, the Trump administration is behind Apple. After Donald’s post on Friday, Apple shares fell by 3% in the market. Trump further gave a witty statement on this matter:

“I had an understanding with Tim that he wouldn’t be doing this. He said he’s going to India to build plants. I said that’s okay to go to India, but you’re not going to sell into here without tariffs. And that’s the way it is.”

Analysts from Wall Street said that moving iPhone production facilities to the US will eventually raise the device’s price by 25%. Another analyst noted that the US is trying to call Apple on its side to make the chip supply chain more secure.

The iPhone maker is already seeing a sales decline in China. In such a case, whether the new rules will create more troubles for Apple or ease them would be worth looking at.

[source]