Trump's trade policies could make the price of an iPhone skyrocket


Donald Trump has vowed to get "Apple to start building their damn computers and things in this country, instead of in other countries," but that could mean your iPhone is about to get a whole lot more expensive, The Washington Post reports.
Trump has long promised to put an end to the proliferation of Chinese-manufactured products in the U.S., and to do so he has floated instating a tax as high as 45 percent on Chinese goods. "If [Trump] institutes a 35-percent penal tariff on every export from China, then most of what you buy at Walmart is 35 percent more expensive," Roger Entner of Recon Analytics explained. While some analysts say the tariff wouldn't necessarily trigger a parallel jump in prices, it would still make manufacturing iPhones significantly more expensive for Apple — and, in turn, for you to buy. A mere 15 percent tax could push iPhones up $50 in cost.
That's not to mention the fact that China has warned of "countermeasures" if Trump tries to launch a trade war. But if Trump were to actually try to yank Apple's manufacturing from China altogether, it would spell an even bigger mess:
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
To truly bring Apple's manufacturing back to the United States — meaning not just the final assembly of the phones and computers but the production of components by suppliers — would take tens of billions of dollars in new factory construction costs alone, Entner said.That doesn't consider the additional investments in education the United States would need to make to staff those factories [...] Considering the deficit in skilled U.S. workers, any plan to move Apple's manufacturing back to the United States probably would require hiring more foreign workers until enough Americans could be trained to take those jobs.All of this could be occurring against the backdrop of a trade-induced recession. As many as 4 million U.S. jobs would be lost as a result of Trump's trade war, and 3 million jobs would never be created, according to Moody's Analytics. [The Washington Post]
Read more about the potential downfalls to a trade war with China at The Washington Post.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
-
Should you add your child to your credit card?
The Explainer You can make them an authorized user on your account in order to help them build credit
-
Cracker Barrel crackup: How the culture wars are upending corporate branding
In the Spotlight Is it 'woke' to leave nostalgia behind?
-
'It's hard to discern what it actually means'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fine
Speed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in Intel
Speed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to China
Speed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with Disney
Speed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B deal
Speed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profits
Speed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year