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Trump Demands US iPhone Production, Threatens 25% Tariff
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Turned on Fox Business this morning and they had a guest on spinning this as a big nothing burger because Apple is only down 4% pre-market. He called it a negotiating tactic. I’m not sure what Trump thinks he’s negotiating here. iPhones aren’t going to be made in the United States. There is no big, beautiful plant with a ribbon cutting ceremony on the table. So what is he negotiating?
How much are the tariffs going to cost on the specialist equipment they'll need to fit out the factory. THAT COMES FROM CHINA.
OMG .. I really hope this is meant sarcastically. If not, you are yet another Trump follower who really swallows everything he spews.
Where are the other smart phones made? Samsung, Google, etc. - are they as outsourced as Apple?
If you want to employ more Americans, then put a tariff on the offshore IT & Call Center labor forces.
If you want to employ more Americans, then put a tariff on the offshore IT & Call Center labor forces.
America has failed... a (small) majority voted this idiot into office and here we are. This stupid tariff war, rights being taken left and right and he's grifting on every front.. like his crypto dinner last night.
I'm done, made the decision to leave the US. Lots to unravel here, likely take 18 months. South of France looking really good at the moment. I initially thought I was "abandoning America" but America has abandoned me.../Out
I'm done, made the decision to leave the US. Lots to unravel here, likely take 18 months. South of France looking really good at the moment. I initially thought I was "abandoning America" but America has abandoned me.../Out
All of this makes more sense when people finally realize:
Donald Trump does not give a crap about America
He is, and always has been, only about himself and his ego.
Donald Trump does not give a crap about America
He is, and always has been, only about himself and his ego.
"US companies"? You mean investors. Investors demand increasing profits every quarter.
This is anything but free market capitalism. This is dictatorial control, and government run business. These actions are the antithesis of freedom.
Trump is no free market capitalist and not a conservative. He's a populist with strong authoritarianism and solid "leftist" roots. He's sort of a 1960s/1970s Democrat (think LBJ) where there is a strong push towards an active federal government in managing the economy, a love of Keynesian economics (not that he understands what that is from a theoretical standpoint), a love of social welfare programs (Medicare/Medicaid), regulation of industries (that's what his tariffs are and attacks on the Ivy League universities), support of labor unions (Trump is supportive of them and receives their support, even if he isn't clear to many Republicans about it), and progressive taxation (his push to increase the standard deduction is just that; he also supports higher marginal tax rates on upper income households [but he'll go along with Republicans who won't increase tax rates]).
Why is he Republican? Because the GOP didn't kick him out. They were dealing with the populist Tea Party movement and when another populist came along without clear political ideology but who was willing to at least at a very shallow level come across like a Republican, he was accepted. This was at first simply as a foil to the other candidates, but we know how that turned out. By then end of his first term, he had started changing Republicans to something they were not. Over the Biden years that transformation continued. Now we have this chimera of a party led by someone who 10 years ago was basically an anti-Republican.
/That's enough of my political interpretation.
We knew that before the election. Problem is, there wasn't enough of us that cared and were distracted by the shiny thing (lower prices) instead of the elephant in the room (desire to have total control of the country).
Merrick Garland did this country a great deal of disservice. Something tells me that man had skeletons in his closet team Trump had on him.
This is a disaster. This country is a joke.
A sitting US President threatening companies on lies social.
And yet the typical moron republicans are like yeah bring back our jobs! Yet none of them… NONE OF THEM… will apply to work there.
This is a disaster. This country is a joke.
A sitting US President threatening companies on lies social.
And yet the typical moron republicans are like yeah bring back our jobs! Yet none of them… NONE OF THEM… will apply to work there.
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The goal isn’t about regulating these companies… conservatives are for DEREGULATIONS.
Merrick Garland should be punished for not prosecuting him.
Nationalize Apple. (This is a joke and remember the government is the one with the tanks and guns.)
There are currently 500,000 open manufacturing jobs in the US already. Companies are having a hard time filling them because, pay. As you said, who wants to sit on an assembly line screwing phones together for 8 hours a day. And most of the jobs in manufacturing actually need skills. Only 2 out of 5 jobs is actually making stuff. The rest is things like finance, HR etc, which require degrees. And the jobs that don't require degrees are usually machine repair, which is not something someone off the street can just come in and do.
He's gone LOCO! Honestly this guy thinks hes a king or something when he's a total moron. It just shows how out of touch with any reality he is what so ever (trump not Tim Cook).
There is no math that works out where Apple will be able to build iPhones here in the US and be able to sell them to people for affordable prices.
That math doesnt exists. Thats not a political opinion...thats a factual statement OF REALITY....Something Trump refuses to believe because anything that doesn't make him look good doesn't exists because everything revolves around trump apparently!
The tariffs and now this new "Beautiful" bill (If it passes) by the way it sounds like something made up by a 1st grader, which ironically is trumps maturity level and intelligence level too.... if these things are allowed to pass, there wont be a recession, it will be a full blown DEPRESSION because no one will be able to afford ANYTHING let alone iphones!
Again...not a political opinion...simple logical math. You cant tariff everything under the sun just because it comes from overseas, then pass a bill that takes away money from vital social services from the population while giving the super wealthy tax breaks, then tell companies they have to build and manufacture items here in the US, despite there being a lack of skilled laborers willing to do the job for less then a livable wadge because then the people wont be able to afford a living to buy the items they are building, which wont sell because no one can afford them!
Imagine this...you work 12-15 plus hours in an American built iPhone factory building Iphones. Say your in charge of dying the Aluminum to the various colors of the phones.
Your average work day is 12 hours. Sometimes more. You get less then minimum wadge. You barely can afford the rent and bills and despite you working all day on the factory line, you still require assistance for food stamps and health care as you just cant afford it on your own despite you working your ass off at Apple to build iphones.
Ok...Now you work hard, you do your job, yet you cant afford to buy the iphone you help build because it costs too much for most people to buy it given the current state of the economy!
So what happpens, they sit in a warehouse unsold and apple isnt going to spend more money to build more phones when the current stock isnt selling cause no one outside of the super rich can afford one, so apple slows down if not stops production all together...and what does that mean, your out of a job!
So now your not making any money though no fault of your own, along with most of your co workers...and sooner or later apple, along with other tech companies start going out of buisness because no one can afford the products and services being built ALL BECAUSE SOME ORANGE IDIOT DOESNT WANT TO EXCEPT REALITY AND LOGIC!
thats whats happening here folkes. Thats not a political statement, thats simple math and reality.
There is no math that works out where Apple will be able to build iPhones here in the US and be able to sell them to people for affordable prices.
That math doesnt exists. Thats not a political opinion...thats a factual statement OF REALITY....Something Trump refuses to believe because anything that doesn't make him look good doesn't exists because everything revolves around trump apparently!
The tariffs and now this new "Beautiful" bill (If it passes) by the way it sounds like something made up by a 1st grader, which ironically is trumps maturity level and intelligence level too.... if these things are allowed to pass, there wont be a recession, it will be a full blown DEPRESSION because no one will be able to afford ANYTHING let alone iphones!
Again...not a political opinion...simple logical math. You cant tariff everything under the sun just because it comes from overseas, then pass a bill that takes away money from vital social services from the population while giving the super wealthy tax breaks, then tell companies they have to build and manufacture items here in the US, despite there being a lack of skilled laborers willing to do the job for less then a livable wadge because then the people wont be able to afford a living to buy the items they are building, which wont sell because no one can afford them!
Imagine this...you work 12-15 plus hours in an American built iPhone factory building Iphones. Say your in charge of dying the Aluminum to the various colors of the phones.
Your average work day is 12 hours. Sometimes more. You get less then minimum wadge. You barely can afford the rent and bills and despite you working all day on the factory line, you still require assistance for food stamps and health care as you just cant afford it on your own despite you working your ass off at Apple to build iphones.
Ok...Now you work hard, you do your job, yet you cant afford to buy the iphone you help build because it costs too much for most people to buy it given the current state of the economy!
So what happpens, they sit in a warehouse unsold and apple isnt going to spend more money to build more phones when the current stock isnt selling cause no one outside of the super rich can afford one, so apple slows down if not stops production all together...and what does that mean, your out of a job!
So now your not making any money though no fault of your own, along with most of your co workers...and sooner or later apple, along with other tech companies start going out of buisness because no one can afford the products and services being built ALL BECAUSE SOME ORANGE IDIOT DOESNT WANT TO EXCEPT REALITY AND LOGIC!
thats whats happening here folkes. Thats not a political statement, thats simple math and reality.
That $1 mil donation is sure paying off, isn’t it Tim?
There’s also a strange, deafening silence from the party of “free market capitalism” over this.
There’s also a strange, deafening silence from the party of “free market capitalism” over this.
Genuinely sucks for those in the US who might get hit by higher prices.
As for Apple:
It might be time to stop wasting money on things like Apple TV+ (disclosure: I do like some of their shows) which feels like a corporate vanity project - and suck up those tariffs.
I want to know though re. manufacturing iPhones in the USA, is it that:
It's simply not possible and/or way too expensive re. labour costs?
Or is it that:
The way that Apple designs phones, means that Apple expects their production partners to find build solutions, which tend to be super labour intensive (as this is cheaper than bringing in automation in the markets that Apple typically manufactures in?)
The truth is likely somewhere between these two, but I'd love to read an objective detailed analysis from an industry expert; because what I usually find are pieces where it feels like Apple PR has briefed a publication that it's simply not possible etc.
As for Apple:
It might be time to stop wasting money on things like Apple TV+ (disclosure: I do like some of their shows) which feels like a corporate vanity project - and suck up those tariffs.
I want to know though re. manufacturing iPhones in the USA, is it that:
It's simply not possible and/or way too expensive re. labour costs?
Or is it that:
The way that Apple designs phones, means that Apple expects their production partners to find build solutions, which tend to be super labour intensive (as this is cheaper than bringing in automation in the markets that Apple typically manufactures in?)
The truth is likely somewhere between these two, but I'd love to read an objective detailed analysis from an industry expert; because what I usually find are pieces where it feels like Apple PR has briefed a publication that it's simply not possible etc.