Trump wants to punish Apple, while admiring his new $400 million dollar bribe from Qatar. 🥴
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Trump Demands US iPhone Production, Threatens 25% Tariff
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It’s so good watching this bin fire from across the pond. Is this any surprise to anyone who understands how tariffs work and how Trump thinks they work ?
Oh he will be alive. Neither the Devil (he will fight for the Devil's throne) nor God want him. We're stuck with him on earth unfortunately.
Don't forget cutting key things most MAGA voters rely on. Let the leopards eat their own faces.
Yes. In installments.
That’s how it works.
Everyone holding Apple shares either directly or indirectly in a retirement fund (a lot of us) lost future income this morning thanks to Trump’s petulant tweet and nothing more.
If he keeps this up, everyone’s losses will continue.
That's because Trump is an empty suit. He's a con artist who spent his whole life building an image of himself that is a complete fabrication. He portrayed himself as a successful businessman while bankrupting companies and stiffing contractors. His most famous book was written by someone else. His most successful project was a television show in which he did what he does best, pretend to be a successful businessman. He doesn't actually know anything about tariffs or the economy and he doesn't much care, just as he doesn't care about conservatism or Republicans or taxes or even immigration. He just wants a throne and a chance to grift lots of money.
How's that working out for you?
And the Chinese, who work for $5 an hour in the factories, are coming along directly? At least until the Americans are trained to the point where they can work as quickly and as cheaply as the Chinese labourers?
Is there no one around Agent Orange who will tell him the bitter truth that the former industrialised countries produce far too expensively? This is not just a problem for the USA. The question is, how long will the Chinese be happy with $5 an hour? Maybe at some point the Chinese will want to live off the land as well as we do in the so-called developed countries. The era of colonialism, conquest and the displacement of indigenous people is over!
Seriously. You can't feel sorry for these people when they realize all their benefits are going to be cut and they will still be blaming Obama for it.
So he wants to tariff everything including steel, wood, foreign equipment, etc. So building any manufacturing is more expensive. Also manufacturing doesn't appear overnight, but the Mango Moron doesn't understand anything more complex than the task of putting ketchup on a steak.
I'm waiting for a Big Mac to take him out.
I'm waiting for a Big Mac to take him out.
Yes to both. Have you seen AAPL's performance with all this tariff uncertainty? AAPL is down about 20% year to date. There are the shareholders paying for the tax.
As I showed, shareholders are paying for it. Apple has been eating inflation for years and not passing the costs on to consumers. Look at the cost of the iPhone X in 2018 -- $1000. Look at the cost of the iPhone 16 Pro (which is actually a step up from the iPhone X) in 2024 -- $1000. Apple was able to keep consumer costs the same through supply chain efficiencies and by increasing services, which are high margin.
Do you happen to know Apple's profit margins in the early 1980s? They were not that far off what they have been recently. Apple had lower periods, but the company has always been a high margin company. The $2500 Mac in 1984 is like $7000 now. We'll call the $1300 iMac the comparable computer. Would you be willing to spend $7000 for a base model iMac? It might not be that high with developed in-country supply lines, but would certainly be closer to $5000. The $1000 iPhone would easily be $4000.
And to that I say, FU you fascist wannabe dictator!
I blame much of this on the voters who put him there. So uninformed and easily manipulated, voting against their own self-interest. Not only impacting Apple products and consumer goods, but increased cost of living for everyone, including those depending on social services and healthcare.
The Qataris give him an aeroplane for $400 million, what's $1 million? Nothing!
I wouldn't be surprised that Agent Orange has enriched himself through his erratic policies and the resulting fluctuating stock market prices.
His great fascist role model from Germany also enriched himself unrestrainedly during his years in power, in the end he was one of the richest men in the country as a former failed painter. This is typical of dictators, they like to line their own pockets until they burst.
Thank you and very informative. I like everything except the last part. You could argue technology was as expensive as it was because of supply and demand. Over time, tech usually becomes cheaper (look at TV's)
I get what Trump is doing, that is, he shakes people up into action instead of working on a more rational 10-year plan, where he will be out of office, where it could possibly stall along the way, and never happen. The problem is that's the way it goes. It takes a decade or more to make this happen and if you force it, then for sure it will fail. Which is where he's at now.
Hitler was 56 when he died. Trump is 80 and not a healthy 80. Weekend at Bernie's?
Make of that what you will.
It is a bit more complicated than that, I am afraid.
I am involved in a B2B business having a lot of business in the US and outside of the US. We have manufacturing on three continents (NA, Europe, Asia). The issue of moving more manufacturing to the US has been on the table.
However, the tariffs need to be very steep before we would do that, because:
- Moving production lines is expensive even though we already manufacture products in the US. It is difficult to justify the cost for low-volume products.
- As the production is now arranged with efficiency in mind, moving something would make it more costly for the whole company.
- In many products we have no US competitors, so the tariffs can just be added to the list price.
- US employment costs are rather high even compared to Western Europe especially for white collar workforce. (Modern high-tech production lines employ a lot of engineers.)
- Moving final assembly to the US does not help if we need to pay high tariffs on components imported into the US. Final assembly is only a small part of the final cost. Building US-only supply chains is impossible.
Having said all this, I do agree that there have been trade structures that have not been completely fair. There have been tariffs—such as the stupid story about the Chicken Tax—and trade barriers (including but not limited to agriculture). China has not been playing by the book. These need attention, and unfair practices and rules need to be fixed. Mr. Trump's way of doing it, unfortunately, is very destructive. This game has no winners.
Everyone heard about Project 2025. He said he would depot. He talked about tariffs. They got exactly what they voted for
This is not an easy one, and I would not talk about xenophoby in this context. Mainland Chinese engineers cannot be used in all tasks they would be capable of. There are too many examples of industrial espionage, and the Chinese law supports that.
And, as a European, I strongly discourage the US to attract Indian engineers. We need them here...
Yup, the Se/30 sitting on my desk right now would cost a whopping $17,000 yes you read that right, *seventeen thousand dollars* today adjusted for inflation
Somehow I dont think an imac pro (the best equiv idea I can think of even though they dont currently make ‘em they’re recent enough for this comparison) starting at $17,000 would sell well today
Education, Education, Education, which leads to Innnovation! Innovation! Innovation! It’s a long game but that’s the future.
Instead, Trump is trying to strangle Education so he can wind the clock back to the 1980’s and look relevant again. It’s all about feeding his ego.
The man has no vision. None whatsoever. The future is not the past. The future needs to be invented anew. Yes, it’s hard.
Perhaps if America manufactured itself more it could service some of its 35 trillion dollar debt to the rest of the world!.. That soon gets forgotten about eh.
But Trump is doing what he does which is what he says he will do if you elect him. That is a revelation in Politics these days.
But Trump is doing what he does which is what he says he will do if you elect him. That is a revelation in Politics these days.