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US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose a 25 per cent tariff on Apple and Samsung smartphones built outside the country. The tariff would also apply to other smartphone companies.
Initially, the president had announced that the duties would only apply to Apple after he called out CEO Tim Cook for sourcing its smartphones from India. It is unusual for a country’s trade policy to target one company, however, Trump later expanded the tariffs to all smartphone makers.
“It would be also Samsung and anybody that makes that product, otherwise it wouldn’t be fair,” Trump told reporters in Washington, adding that the new tariffs would take effect by the “end of June.”
Trump’s latest statement aligned with what he had said during his Qatar trip. He recounted how he told Apple’s CEO: “We’re not interested in you building in India… we want you to build here and they’re going to be upping their production in the United States.”
“I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhones 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 US,” he added.
The US president has once again gone on a tariff rampage after weeks of calm and trade deals with China and India. On Friday, Trump also threatened to impose a 50 per cent tariff on the European Union as trade talks with the bloc “are going nowhere”.
Impact Shorts
View AllApple shares plummet
Shares of Apple ended 3 per cent lower, while the three major US stock indexes finished weaker but off session lows. European shares also ended lower.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, hit a three-week trough. For the week, the dollar was down 1.9 per cent, on track for its biggest weekly percentage decline since early April.
This was the latest event in a jittery week for global markets after Moody’s downgraded the US credit rating late last Friday and the US House of Representatives narrowly approved Trump’s sweeping tax cuts on Thursday. The new tax-cut bill is expected to add almost $4 trillion to the US federal government’s $36 trillion debt pile.
With inputs from agencies