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Apple Says New China Tariffs Would Boost Prices On Some Products (bloomberg.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Apple, the world's most valuable company, said proposed U.S. tariffs on $200 billion worth of products imported from China will raise prices for some of its popular consumer goods such as the Apple Watch and AirPods headphones. The Mac mini desktop computer, Apple Pencil stylus accessory for iPads, various chargers and adapters and tooling equipment used to manufacturer and design some products in the U.S. will also be affected, the Cupertino, California-based company told the Office of U.S. Trade Representative in a letter dated Sept 5.
The company said the tariffs would "show up as a tax on U.S. consumers" and "increase the cost of Apple products that our customers have come to rely on in their daily lives." Beyond the core products, Apple said accessories like the HomePod speaker, some Beats speakers, AirPort and Time Capsule internet routers, the Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad, and leather cases for the iPhone, iPad, MacBook and Apple Pencil would be affected. It said some of the parts it relies on for product development, including processors and research equipment, would also be hit by the tariffs. On Friday, President Trump said he's prepared to impose tariffs on an additional $267 billion in Chinese imports, which would affect almost every category of consumer goods, according to analysts. He cites unfair trade practices as a reason for the tariffs.
The company said the tariffs would "show up as a tax on U.S. consumers" and "increase the cost of Apple products that our customers have come to rely on in their daily lives." Beyond the core products, Apple said accessories like the HomePod speaker, some Beats speakers, AirPort and Time Capsule internet routers, the Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad, and leather cases for the iPhone, iPad, MacBook and Apple Pencil would be affected. It said some of the parts it relies on for product development, including processors and research equipment, would also be hit by the tariffs. On Friday, President Trump said he's prepared to impose tariffs on an additional $267 billion in Chinese imports, which would affect almost every category of consumer goods, according to analysts. He cites unfair trade practices as a reason for the tariffs.
He gets a twofer in his mind: Look strong on Chin and punish silicon valley who he sees as his enemy.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
We all know that Apple is operating on the thinnest of margins.
What a load of Apple crap: "... increase the cost of Apple products that our customers have come to rely on in their daily lives." Apple, stop buying from the ChiComms! Buy American!
Circle the wagons and fire inward. Entropy increases without bounds.
The display cabinet purpose of the TPP was to 'deal with China stealing IP.' The actual purpose was to ratchet down environmental and worker protection laws in the U.S. to 'level the playing field.'
I am shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, to learn that Apple has to raise prices to maintain traditional profits on their devices. Apparently there is no room in the price of an iPhone.
Ken
You got the timing backwards. China has had barriers keeping out American products for decades. We were already in a trade war. We are only now starting to fight back.
We accepted the one sided nature of trade with China with the hopes of liberalizing China through interaction. That failed. Its far past time to realize this and to stop tolerating the one sided nature of our trade relationship.
Trump may be an idiot, but he's having a broken clock moment and is correct here.
Um, isn't the whole point of this tariff to try to push companies like Apple to manufacture stuff in the USA instead of China?
That is the point. But it is not the result. Tariffs lead to retaliation. It makes no sense for companies to set up separate manufacturing in every country where they do business, rather than in a single efficient factory. Doing so raises prices. The only question is if it is cheaper to just pay the tariff instead.
Apple may decide to assemble some phones in America, but with automation this will create few jobs. Meanwhile, other companies will move operations OUT of America, as Harley-Davidson is already doing. Boeing will likely move some manufacturing to China, to avoid losing the entire Asian market to Airbus. Many semiconductor companies will do the same. Brazilian soybeans have already gone up in price while American soybeans are falling.
All of this leads to inefficiency, fragmentation, despecialization, higher prices, lower wages, and lower living standards.
That's NOT what happened when tariffs were applied to Japanese cars. Lo and behold, they opened factories in the U.S. As a knock-on effect, Detroit auto makers had to up their game.
Yea, but cars are large goods that are already expensive to ship overseas. Like Alcohol. In a global make, it was just a matter of time before they moved h e factories here. The tarrifs only protected Detroit automakers from going under,until they could copy the Japanese on business methods..
Most of the goods produced by Silicon Valley in China are of the sightly more portable variety. And since these OEMs are producing products for the entire world, the US is only a very small piece of that pie, so the companies will either just raise prices here in the US (like Apple will).
So yeah, this may bring home production of washers and dryers, but not the small stuff that's dirt-cheap to ship in-bulk. And it just so happens those are the most lucrative manufacturing jobs.
In a global economy, the best thing for everyone i to put the factories where they are he most efficient. Moving production of everything to China has lowered the cost of living in the US significantly, and we've been able to replace the lost manufacturing jobs with globally-compatitive software and services.
Man is the animal that laughs.
And occasionally whores for Karma.
Not much else to say there.
Except that perhaps the future is not jeopardized in the least if tech bros buy new phones at a lower frequency and China has less revenue to build a blue water a navy. The cheap stuff from China model — enabled by disposable workers and piratical regulation-free manufacturers — is a shitty way to do things and any impedance we can offer is good. We can't trust China, Indie, et al. to perform our manufacturing without filling the oceans with plastic and emitting tons of illegal CFCs and all the other heinous shit they do, so let us unwind this sad, shameful arrangement.
Just more winning as far as I am concerned.
Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
Yes, I'm sure the guys assembling the washing machines all transitioned to lucrative software development jobs!
As for service jobs, they pay less typically. So for them, the standard of living is going down, not up.
But on the bright side, we do burn a lot more polluting bunker oil shipping those washers and dryers to the U.S. and we get to be economically dependent on a sort-of communist country that is only sometimes friendly with us.