Trump Meets With Apple's CEO
Over the past weekend, Apple CEO Tim Cook and President Trump met to discuss how tariffs will begin to affect the Cupertino, California-based company. They met for dinner on Friday while the president was at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Tim Cook voiced his concerns about how the tariffs will put Apple at a disadvantage with one of its prime competitors, Samsung Electronics. Samsung’s products won’t be affected by the U.S.-China tariffs.
Samsung doesn’t solely build its products in one country. Instead, its products get built across several countries including Vietnam, South Korea, and China. The company wouldn’t be significantly impacted by the tariffs since the majority of its products aren’t coming from China.
That isn’t the case for Apple. Most of Apple’s devices are made in China before the company imports them to the U.S. and other locations across the globe. The majority of Apple’s products will be inflicted with 10% tariffs in the coming weeks and months. The company’s Apple Watch, AirPods, HomePod, and many other accessories will begin to endure tariffs on September 1.
A Brief Delay on Tariffs for Certain Items
Last week, Trump’s administration announced that there will be a delay on the tariffs against China on cell phones, laptop computers, toys, and some other items until December 15.
Having a delay would soften the blow for companies like Apple, but it’s only temporary. It’s hard to say what will happen in the next few months. Cell phones and laptops alone represent about $80 billion of tariffs that were going to be in effect on the September 1 date. Now, it’s a waiting game.
The office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced last week that there will be some products that will be completely removed from the tariff list because of health, safety, national security, and other factors. These items were listed in detail from the USTR’s office last week.
It seems as if Trump walked away from the meeting with Apple’s CEO a little more enlightened on how his tariffs could affect the U.S. economy and U.S.-based companies. Trump said Cook made a “good case” about how it would become difficult to compete with Samsung if Apple’s products were given import tariffs. Trump said:
I thought he made a very compelling argument. It’s tough for Apple to pay tariffs if it’s competing with a very good company that’s not.
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