All of which shows what a colossal waste of money it was for Cook to donate to Trumps inauguration and what a poor judge of character he is if he thought he could reach favourable terms with the Orange Turd.

Apple spent a million dollars which bought them a two or three months delay. So first, it was no waste. Second, a million dollars was no colossal waste even if it was a waste.

That was three months time to figure out legal and financial strategies to stop Trump.

Which didn't really work, so it was a waste.

Of course it worked. A million dollars for two or three months time. Which is about 60-90 times Trump’s attention span.

So what would you have done? Paid no bribe, but 25% tariffs for the last month at least? Brilliant sense of business you’ve got.

User issue: "You are kissing his arse the wrong way"

Can he just apply a tax to a specific company like that?

Sounds worryingly close to a bill of attainder. Not technically the same, but close enough that I would expect Apple's lawyers to challenge it on that ground.

He can do what he likes, because who is going to stop him? The law is irrelevant if nobody enforces it.

We're already well beyond the bounds of legality. US law makes it clear that Congress is responsible for all trade negotiations. In its turn, Congress gave presidents the power to set policy during poorly defined situations of "national emergency", which is the excuse Trump is using to justify the current shitshow. However, there are already several lawsuits in the works that challenge the legality of at least some of these decisions.

Politically, it could be smart for Trump to lose some of the cases: he could walk away and say he'd like to do more but his hands are tied. But he takes such decisions personally and would waste more energy and government resources going after both plaintiffs and the courts.

But he takes such decisions personally and would waste more energy and government resources going after both plaintiffs and the courts.

Which could be a Very Good Thing because that would mean he'd have less time and energy to fuck up everything else.

Right for the wrong reason. The purpose in losing a court case is to identify which judges and lawyers should be deported. So far, the threat of [1]revoking security clearance has convinced most law firms to surrender.

[1] https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/22/donald-trump-law-firms-threat-027250

A month ago he wanted to charge tariffs on products made by Mattel. If someone explained to the leader of the free world how tariffs work so he didn't stick his foot in it again he's forgotten as now he wants to charge them on products made by Apple.

I guess Trump doesn't really care as he can afford a ten-fold increase (thought this would result in a lot less) in the sale price of an iDevice. However, I'm not sure many hard-working citizens will see it that way.

If Apple would transfer (significant) volume to be manufactured in the U.S. of A, would it make it a cheaper product for the American Citizen?

Would an imported iPhone / iPad with 25% Donald Tariff be more expensive? I cannot tell.

And how long does it take/how much does it cost to implement local manufacturing and supporting logistics?

All I can see is that the label "made in the U.S. of A." does not necessarily make it a cheaper or better product.

Mr. President is a real estate entrepeneur witth no/limited experience in manufacturing or supply chain management. For once, I believe mr. Cook is right and buying time is the best way out for now. In less then 4 years time there is another Mr(s) President, with different views and dito politics.

I would be very much certain that the cost of an iphone produced in either China or India shipped to the US and subjected to a 100% tariff, would STILL be cheaper than one produced in the US. That's assuming that a US manufacturing facility materialised out of nowhere complete with staff trained to produce the iphones, and all without costing Apple a cent.

In truth Apple would first need to build a factory, and second they would need to train sufficient staff to actually do the manufacturing. So the costs would be massively higher.

If Apple have to pay additional tariffs on their products, either they will take a hit on their already massive profits for each iphone sold, or more likely just raise the prices to include the tariffs, and accept a reduction in sales. They would probably look at that as returning to their more exclusive image (and advertise it as such!). Waiting out the Orange ones nonsense certainly makes more financial sense than actually trying to rush into producing anything in America. The fact Trump seems to have the memory of a gold fish and changes his mind every time he changes his underwear, would make anyone doing long term planning simply decide to wait him out...

I'm guessing sometimes he changes his mind more frequently than his underwear.

"In less then 4 years time there is another Mr(s) President"

That's a big assumption. As Trump himself said, if you vote for him you'll never need to vote again.

He's not even a competent real estate entrepreneur. He'd have more money if he'd put what he inherited in a tracker fund.

In less then 4 years time there is another Mr(s) President, with different views and dito politics.

I very much hope so. However the Orange Fuckwit and his puppet masters have other ideas.

The devices are mainly assembled in China from components made all over the world. So, even assuming it was possible to build a suitable factory and find the necessarily skilled workers over a couple of years, this would hardly affect the higher prices due to imported components.

But America needs to import tariffed goods to build and equip factories and it doesn't have sufficient people to do this let alone the skilled ones to work in them.

There is no way for Apple to build iPhones in the USA for only 25% more than in China or India. I’d offer a deal to Tesla. 10% over Chinese prices, all parts and work in the USA, same quality. And see Musk run.

" Tim Cook of Apple "

So it's not Tim Apple anymore ?

Did he (gasp) actually learn something, or did an intern do a quick check to make sure that the orange baboon didn't make a fool of himself (again) ?

... this could be an opportunity for Apple to invest in training American workers. I find it hard to believe that it's impossible for Americans to learn how to do electronics assembly.

Or is the real argument that American workers can't be paid as little as their foreign counterparts?

Of course American workers could be trained to produce iphones. Or any other Electrical item for that matter. BUT American workers could not survive on the wages paid in Asia. The cost of living is that much higher.

There are also rules on Health and Safety, Environmental regulations, and Employment rules, that mean that you couldnt just pick up one of those Asian factories and drop it in America, because half the process lines would be breaking US Law, and the whole work 84 hour weeks, sleep in a dorm at the factory and see your family once every 3 years or so, would tend to be frowned upon (although perhaps less so under the current administration...).

Apple could do all that anyway. They could make the Iphones in America, set up the factories compliant to local regulations, pay the workers are proper living wage. They could do all that. But then they would have to take a massive hit on their profits, and well we cant have that now can we? Those second yachts for the C-suite and Investors arent going to just pay for themselves, are they now?

There was an article in the NYT (I think) a few years ago which explained how the manufacturing costs of iToys would increase by $10-20/unit if they were made in the USA and US laws on employment, safety, environment, etc applied. Mind you, that article pre-dated Trumpian tariff fuckwittery.

That extra cost would have a marginal impact on Apple's bottom line, assuming the company didn't jack up prices for its "Made in the USA" tat. Which they'd surely do.

And there was a business technologist on Radio 4 a few days back that said that the retail cost of a $1000 iPhone made in the USA, one the plant was set up, people trained and wages paid, would be closer to $4000.

They were talking about AirTags, not phones.

The real argument is it's complicated. Far, far too complicated for America's moron-in-chief and his enablers to understand. So they get spoon-fed a plausible toddler-level story about the lack of trained workers in Trumpistan.