President Trump on Friday clarified that his threat to impose tariffs on smartphones made outside the US applies to all manufacturers, not just Apple. In the morning, Truth warned in a Truth Social post that he would put a 25% tariff on Apple iPhones unless the company starts making them in the US. While speaking to reporters later in the Oval Office, Trump said the threat applies to all phone makers, reports the Wall Street Journal.
"It would be also Samsung and anybody that makes that product, otherwise it wouldn't be fair," said Trump, per the Hill. "So anybody that makes that product, and that'll start on, I guess, the end of June." Industry analysts say the idea of shifting production to the US would be "nearly impossible," per Bloomberg, though Trump insists otherwise. "When they build their plant here, there's no tariff, so they're going to be building plants here," he said of phone manufacturers on Friday.
Apple shares were down more than 3% on Friday, and it was unclear whether a 25% tariff would translate to an immediate price hike for the phones. "This is a clear negative," KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Brandon Nispel wrote in a note to investors. "For Apple, it seems as if it must now raise prices on iPhones, which will likely occur with the launch of the iPhone 17. However, in the near term, it likely implies a more significant gross margin impact." (More President Trump stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
