How Apple CEO Tim Cook Convinced Trump to Exempt Apple From Tariffs

[Warped9]

What you describe does not exist. Best wishes and I hope you can find happiness.

It most certainly does exist except for those in denial. Hopefully it can be stopped before it becomes a total hell hole, but a lot of damage has already been done.

 

[Dutch60]

It goes like this>According to The Washington Post.

Pure Speculation >Cook had a phone call with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick last week, explaining how the tariffs would cause iPhone prices to increase. He talked to senior White House officials about the tariffs, and made sure not to say anything negative in public about Trump's policies that would anger Trump. Says who?
------
Speculation>but there are significant barriers that would prevent Apple from doing so, including the cost of building factories, a lack of skilled laborers, and the cost of paying U.S. workers. Says who?

Things have never been tried how do they know things would go wrong profits not to be made?

So, trying is the best you can do? I doubt anyone has ever tried to jump across the Mississippi river. Worth a try…if you don’t, then you’ll never be sure.
Trying the obvious seems dumb.

Adjust and get over it.
No pain no gain.
Alway negative connotations. Some sorry people.
The sun will shine tomorrow !

 

[H2SO4]

It goes like this>According to The Washington Post.

Pure Speculation >Cook had a phone call with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick last week, explaining how the tariffs would cause iPhone prices to increase. He talked to senior White House officials about the tariffs, and made sure not to say anything negative in public about Trump's policies that would anger Trump. Says who?
------
Speculation>but there are significant barriers that would prevent Apple from doing so, including the cost of building factories, a lack of skilled laborers, and the cost of paying U.S. workers. Says who?

Things have never been tried how do they know things would go wrong profits not to be made?
Adjust and get over it.
No pain no gain.
Alway negative connotations. Some sorry people.
The sun will shine tomorrow !

Be honest fella.
Do you think the cost of building a factor(ies) with all the associated machinery/land is insignificant?
Do you think there are enough skilled labourers just right there willing go?
Do you think the cost of paying US workers, (remember that you have OSHA, US regulations and benefits to factor in), especially relative to current labour costs is insignificant?

I don't need to try any of those to know that the numbers would not be the same.

 

[iPay]

How Apple CEO Tim Cook Convinced Trump to Exempt Apple From Tariffs​

Easy: He wore a MAGA hat, apologized to Next President Vance and hired Laura Loomer as Greenwashing Consultant after Mother Nature - a former child actor known as Explorer Dora - was deported back to Costa Rica. Fun fact: because of Trump 3-day memory, he visited him twice a week, until he realized he could send any jerk with a hat since the Great Leader didn't recognize him anyway, calling him twice "Zuck from Apple".

 

[Lone Deranger]

Yet Apple's 2+ Billion active and repeat customers have propelled Apple to becoming one of the most successful tech companies in the world. That, and Apple manufacturing and selling roughly 600,000 iPhones per day, every day of the year (on the average) speaks volumes about Apple and Cook.

One could say that more people voted for Apple and Tim Cook than did for Trump.

 

[darngooddesign]

China will be the toughest to bring to the table but it will happen. They need us more than we need them as they export 5 times more to us. In the end, this was the right move for the U.S. as we've been taken advantage of for decades and it's time to have that come to a halt.

I guess Kool-Aid is exempt from tariffs.

 

[smirking]

Things have never been tried how do they know things would go wrong profits not to be made?

Ummm... here's the fun part. YES it has been tried and Apple has even tried it.

Mac Pro to be Made in Texas!

Apple’s new Mac Pro to be made in Texas

As part of its commitment to US economic growth, Apple today confirmed that its newly redesigned Mac Pro will be manufactured in Austin, Texas.

www.apple.com

Did they end up making it in Texas? Not really. Did they try? Yup. Why didn't it work? The supply chain to support manufacturing a PC soup to nuts does not exist here. China spent decades reforming its economy to be the manufacturing hub of the world. We're not going to recreate that in 1-2 years, especially not while making enemies with every country who might be needed to help us get a manufacturing sector humming.

Yet one country that has nothing to offer us in terms of manufacturing, (cough cough Russia) is exempt from tariffs.

 

[darngooddesign]

It goes like this>According to The Washington Post.

Pure Speculation >Cook had a phone call with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick last week, explaining how the tariffs would cause iPhone prices to increase. He talked to senior White House officials about the tariffs, and made sure not to say anything negative in public about Trump's policies that would anger Trump. Says who?
------
Speculation>but there are significant barriers that would prevent Apple from doing so, including the cost of building factories, a lack of skilled laborers, and the cost of paying U.S. workers. Says who?

Things have never been tried how do they know things would go wrong profits not to be made?
Adjust and get over it.
No pain no gain.
Alway negative connotations. Some sorry people.
The sun will shine tomorrow !

The average FoxCon iPhone assembler gets ~$330 per month for 10-11 hour shifts. There is no way to increase those wages to even the American minimum wage for an 8 hour shift without increasing prices drastically.

 

[H2SO4]

China will be the toughest to bring to the table but it will happen. They need us more than we need them as they export 5 times more to us. In the end, this was the right move for the U.S. as we've been taken advantage of for decades and it's time to have that come to a halt.

I'm under the impression, (might be wrong), that the US accounts for 15% of China exports?

 

[klrobinson999]

They totally need the U.S. to keep their people working and the last thing they want to do is have millions of unhappy citizens wanting to oust their leadership. It's a big deal.

Not at all. They will simply move those people to new roles/jobs, and even completely transform an entire company to achieve it. That's what they did with Huawei, which evolved from primarily a phone manufacturer to an electric vehicle/parts manufacturer. They converted factories overnight to achieve this. For Apple, they could easily tell Foxconn that they no longer want them to assemble the iPhone and prefer them to assemble EV batteries instead.

This is what happens in a top-down statist system. Huawei operates as a profit-making company, but is answerable to the state, who sets priorities.

If you visit China, you will realize its citizens have become very loyal to the state. There is no revolution about to happen.

 

[ForkHandles]

I'm under the impression, (might be wrong), that the US accounts for 15% of China exports?

I heard this figure recently too.

China has a strategy, a clear headed, intelligent leader and the time to make the right decision. Quite the opposite of the USA.

I think everyone knows that manufacturing in the USA will never come back to its heyday in the 50s.

Globalisation is here to stay and hankering for yesteryear is counter productive. China know this and are acting accordingly

 

[klrobinson999]

I'm under the impression, (might be wrong), that the US accounts for 15% of China exports?

Yes -- that's right. Only 15% of its exports go to the US. It will be lower than that by the end of the decade. China will be fine. Americans are delusional if they think China won't survive without us.

 

[turbineseaplane]

That's what rich countries do: import more than export. What would be the purpose of being rich otherwise?

It's breathtaking to see how many people don't get this.

Global trade is not some personal finance spreadsheet where one must "balance the books".

 

[H.E. Pennypacker]

See Germany, 1930s
The guy went on to wipe out several countries and entire nations.

Germany in the 1930s didn’t have a First Amendment, independent courts, 50 state governments, or 330 million people ready to raise hell. The comparison’s lazy. Yeah, we should take threats seriously but acting like the U.S. is one election away from turning into Nazi Germany is dramatic and ignores the actual strength baked into the system. This country’s chaotic on purpose it’s designed to slow down power grabs. If it were that easy to wipe it all out with bad tweets and bluster, we’d be long gone.

 

[klrobinson999]

The average FoxCon iPhone assembler gets ~$330 per month for 10-11 hour shifts. There is no way to increase those wages to even the American minimum wage for an 8 hour shift without increasing prices drastically.

They also get free health care, free housing, free internet, free utilities, etc. etc. It's a total shop system.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Germany in the 1930s didn’t have a First Amendment, independent courts, 50 state governments, or 330 million people ready to raise hell.

Have you been keeping abreast on how much "hell is being raised" (not) to defend against what Trump is doing and has been allowing?

 

[H2SO4]

Yes -- that's right. Only 15% of its exports go to the US. It will be lower than that by the end of the decade. China will be fine. Americans are delusional if they think China won't survive without us.

I think people, (those that are not globally/economically minded), in the west look at the MSRP of things like iPhone and HP PCs and see the $ total of all that as the amount of money that China will lose and of course it's not even close.

 

[H.E. Pennypacker]

Yes -- that's right. Only 15% of its exports go to the US. It will be lower than that by the end of the decade. China will be fine. Americans are delusional if they think China won't survive without us.

Saying 15% of exports isn’t a big deal is wild that’s hundreds of billions tied directly to US demand. Losing that isn’t a paper cut. No country shrugs off the loss of its largest single export market like it’s nothing. China might survive, sure, but “fine” isn’t the word I’d use when your economy’s built on exports and your biggest customer walks.

 

[smirking]

China has a strategy, a clear headed, intelligent leader and the time to make the right decision. Quite the opposite of the USA.

As exasperated as I am about our current “leadership,” let’s not get carried away about revering the CCCP. They’ve got plenty of problems of their own.

The efficiency of state run economies is unbeatable until the propaganda is ripped away. Their good moves can look exceedingly good. There’s nothing to slow it down, but the same can be said of their bad moves. There’s nothing slowing down or calling abort on bad decisions either. The China real estate crisis and birth rate crisis looming in their near future future are cautionary tales of the state having the power to ignore socioeconomic factors in their decision making.

To me that’s what’s the scariest thing about what the current US administration is doing to our economy. They’re trying to replace a (mostly) open marketplace economy with one that’s state driven by leveraging imaginary strengths that we do not have and casting aside the very real advantages that we hold over the rest of the industrialized world. If those trade imbalances were so horrendous the US would not be the richest and most powerful nation in the world.

 

[cocky jeremy]

He had a million reasons to do what Apple wanted.

 

[Dutch60]

Germany in the 1930s didn’t have a First Amendment, independent courts,

I wonder how long it will take to replace judges. Trump administration is already questioning and judging judges.

50 state governments, or 330 million people ready to raise hell. The comparison’s lazy. Yeah, we should take threats seriously but acting like the U.S. is one election away from turning into Nazi Germany is dramatic

Agree

and ignores the actual strength baked into the system. This country’s chaotic on purpose it’s designed to slow down power grabs. If it were that easy to wipe it all out with bad tweets and bluster, we’d be long gone.

I wonder how much of that system survives if Trump can keep doing what he does so far. He's busy (and successfully so), to change that system. Once that change has taken place, it will be too late.
Time to act is NOW……and unfortunately I see way too less of that.

 

[Dutch60]

Saying 15% of exports isn’t a big deal is wild that’s hundreds of billions tied directly to US demand. Losing that isn’t a paper cut. No country shrugs off the loss of its largest single export market like it’s nothing. China might survive, sure, but “fine” isn’t the word I’d use when your economy’s built on exports and your biggest customer walks.

China hardly has any checks and balances (unfortunately USA also gets less and less of this). State control is much much stronger. Beside that, the Chinese are much more resilient when it comes to suffering hardship.

 

[Parowdy]

The world is not siding with China. Eventually they will cave.

Sorry but what do you know about Africa, the Middle East and Asia?
Developing nations are sick of America and have no trust left in its institutions. The president we all thought shouldn’t be one came back for his round two and is going even more crazy than he did the first time around.

I‘m not saying I like any of this, for almost 10 years now I’ve said NOTHING worries me more on this planet than China, and that still is true. But it seems the US lead „free world“ won’t be much longer.

 

[Dutch60]

I fear the university part changed already.

Just in my neck of the woods Johns Hopkins research laid off 2000 researchers after Trump/musk cuts. I'm in 6 different studies at JH at the moment. I have no idea how many will remain intact, if any. I do know many of those brilliant people are gone now.

These researchers are leaving. They are returning to their home countries out of fear and/or frustration, pursuing research outside the USA, or being recruited by other research universities abroad. Nobody will blink twice at their resume showing they left Johns Hopkins early given what is happening.

Exactly that is happening right now. Europe welcomes them ofcourse!

I have personally interacted with 20+ people from a dozen plus countries just in my limited time in studies at JH. These gifted research fellows are being snatched up by other countries.

The brain drain is a real thing. American medicine and science is already decimated. All because of a racist orange game show host, a man with "dyed hair plugs and laminated face," and a guy with a brain worm who looks like Hoggle from Jim Henson's Labyrinth.

 

[ForkHandles]

As exasperated as I am about our current “leadership,” let’s not get carried away about revering the CCCP. They’ve got plenty of problems of their own.

The efficiency of state run economies is unbeatable until the propaganda is ripped away. Their good moves can look exceedingly good. There’s nothing to slow it down, but the same can be said of their bad moves. There’s nothing slowing down or calling abort on bad decisions either. The China real estate crisis and birth rate crisis looming in their near future future are cautionary tales of the state having the power to ignore socioeconomic factors in their decision making.

To me that’s what’s the scariest thing about what the current US administration is doing to our economy. They’re trying to replace a (mostly) open marketplace economy with one that’s state driven by leveraging imaginary strengths that we do not have and casting aside the very real advantages that we hold over the rest of the industrialized world. If those trade imbalances were so horrendous the US would not be the richest and most powerful nation in the world.

One should revere the Chinese leadership despite their problems. There socioeconomic problems are of no real interest to either us or Xi Jinping. The well being, or lack of, its citizens has never kept the west awake at night.

When it comes to business, harnessing technology, utilising AI, creating resources I think their administration is in a very advanced state. Their soft power globally is increasing almost exponentially through the investment in infrastructure in countries all around the world, more so now The Lump has cancelled USAID.

Which country would I rather live in? Obviously not China!!!

Which stands a better chance of withstanding this trade war?
Obviously not USA!!!