Punitive tariffs could drive up iPhone prices: Trump adviser waves off
Trump likes to announce punitive tariffs, but reacts allergically when US companies raise their prices. Apple has now also received a warning.
Donald Trump during a visit to a shipyard in Wisconsin 2020
(Image: WeiĂźes Haus)
Will Apple raise iPhone prices due to expected punitive tariffs? According to the Trump administration's chief economic advisor, this will not be the case: Apple will "shoulder the burden of these tariffs, not the customer," claimed Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council (NEC), in an interview on CNBC. After all, the offer is "elastic" if you consider "that Apple has a factory somewhere that produces a fixed number of iPhones that the company has to sell no matter what – what happens", the economist argued.
Apple is reportedly considering higher iPhone prices
This prediction by the economic advisor also appears to be intended as a warning to Apple: According to recent reports, the manufacturer is considering raising the prices of the iPhone 17 series. The plan is to refer to new functions and technology and prefer not to mention tariffs. Apple has not raised iPhone prices in the USA for many years.
The Trump administration is already exerting pressure on US companies to swallow the additional costs from punitive tariffs and not to pass them on to end customers under any circumstances. The aim of the tariffs is to relocate production to the USA; Trump also wants Apple to manufacture the iPhone in its home market again.
Videos by heise
Trump's "little problem" with Tim Cook
In order to avoid high tariffs on imports from China, Apple is relying on significantly expanded final iPhone assembly in India. As early as the current financial quarter, the company intends to meet US demand almost entirely with iPhones assembled in India, as Tim Cook confirmed to financial analysts.
The plan has met with little approval from Trump: he has already "tolerated all these plants" that Apple has built in China over the years and this should not be repeated in India, the US president grumbled in Qatar in mid-May. According to the New York Times, the Apple boss had previously declined Trump's invitation to accompany him on the trip to the Gulf region. At the end of last week, Trump then threatened that Apple would have to pay tariffs of "at least 25 percent to the US" if iPhones were still not "made in the US". "Everybody" is now acting as if the "tiny little tariffs" are a disaster, Trump's economic advisor noted. However, this is just a strategy to negotiate down the tariff rate. "We don't want to hurt Apple," said Hassett.
Empfohlener redaktioneller Inhalt
Mit Ihrer Zustimmung wird hier ein externer Preisvergleich (heise Preisvergleich) geladen.
Ich bin damit einverstanden, dass mir externe Inhalte angezeigt werden. Damit können personenbezogene Daten an Drittplattformen (heise Preisvergleich) übermittelt werden. Mehr dazu in unserer Datenschutzerklärung.
(lbe)
