Trump Suggests Tariffs Could Be Placed on iPhones and Laptops Imported From China

[JungleNYC]

Trump's steel tariffs is why GM just laid off everyone.

GM was a crapshow of a company, barely kept on life support since the 08 taxpayer largesse. Don't get me wrong, it sucks that they went under, but they should've gone under 10 years ago. It's unhelpful keeping companies artificially alive for political reasons.

 

[definitive]

"suggests" in title, and the npc's get triggered. "muh aapul phones and electronics are gonna cost more" guess what? their prices have been going up for years, way before dromf took office. apple is just greedy.

 

[Noctilux.95]

Tim Cook needs to put his money where his mouth is and aggressively donate to Democrats in the next election.

Tim Cook’s first love is not gay right, human right, or any other social issue. His first and true love is the protection of his money mainly given to him by Trump and the republicans.

 

[john123]

GM was a crapshow of a company, barely kept on life support since the 08 taxpayer largesse. Don't get me wrong, it sucks that they went under, but they should've gone under 10 years ago. It's unhelpful keeping companies artificially alive for political reasons.

Whether it was necessary or not is a matter of academic debate (there are plenty of academics on each side). But political expedience was actually not what fueled those bailouts.

 

[Kaibelf]

Tariffs are probably the wrong weapon, but we do have problems with trade with China. For starters they steal intellectual property from Western companies, and provide massive subsidies that make it difficult for other companies to compete on a level footing.

If the US had the population leverage we would do the same thing. Look at the way we threaten to financially isolate other countries from the entire world if they choose to to business with Iran even if they have nothing to do with OUR dispute with the country?

As for the “stealing,” it’s no different than when people claim Facebook “steals” their data. They signed it away as part of the deal.

 

[wizard]

Tim Cook needs to put his money where his mouth is and aggressively donate to Democrats in the next election.

Why so the democrates can send more jobs to a country on the war path. Like it or not Trump is doing the right thing here, basically reversing decades old policy that transferred a massive amount of our manufacturing base to china and other countries.

Contrary to popular belief that was not good at all for people working for a living. A service economy is basically a dead economy. Even much of the so called tech service economy is nothing more than a collection of sweat shops for the workers there.

 

[User 6502]

And this is a big reason the stock is down recently.

No it's not. The reason for stock being down recently is poor sales due to greedy pricing structure.

 

[wizard]

Tim Cook’s first love is not gay right, human right, or any other social issue. His first and true love is the protection of his money mainly given to him by Trump and the republicans.

There isn't a Republican alive that would give Cook money. That statement makes no sense at all because you don't finance your enemy. Cook is too much of a Democrat, and frankly has some strange political beliefs, to ever get money thrown at him personally.

 

[wigby]

Your avatar is Trump and your location is set in Canada but you're weighing in on US politics for a US company. So much cognitive dissonance.

In any case, the Citizens United SCOTUS ruling means corporations can financially participate in political campaigns, so why wouldn't Apple donate to one more aligned with their political values and goals, especially when tariffs hurt their bottom line?

Apple has lobbying power and lobbies both sides depending on their needs. Stupid voters only get to pick to one representative from each side but when you have enough funds, why settle on only one side?

 

[sirozha]

Trump was upset about the caravaniers rushing the Mexican border and stoning the Mexican border guards and warned that the same thing would happen to the US border if they were not stopped. Everyone derided him six weeks ago.

Lo and behold, the caravaniers got to the US border and decided to take it by storm while stoning the US Border Guard under the human shield of women and children.

You can say what you want about Trump. He is definitely not a studious person. But the guy has uncanny instincts to be able to glance at an issue and make a statement based on nothing but hunch that turns out to be spot on more often than not.

I watched five hundred men rushing the US border with just a few women and children among them. That violent storming of the US border didn’t look like a bunch of refugees asking for asylum. It looked like an attempt to force their way into the US by a bunch of thugs, who in fact assaulted the US border guard with projectiles, just like Trump predicted it would happen.

I definitely don’t want these thugs in my country, and I’m an immigrant myself who waited for 18 years to get my US citizenship.

Can we stop pretending that the guy who went bankrupt 7 times is going to somehow fix our trade issues? He needs to be removed from office.

The guy who needs to be removed from office is Tim Cook. He has surfed the wave created by Steve well, but the wave has just crashed onto the shore, and Tim has no idea how to create another wave.

 

[DaveN]

Round two... fight.

So if your going to claim Melania there because well, I’m sure that wasn’t aimed at the caravan of women throwing rocks and bottles at us. Let me link to an article by a Democrat immigration lawyer who happened to represent Melania...

https://jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com/how-did-melania-trump-get-u-s-citizenship/

So after reading that from the horse’s mouth, would you not agree she came here as a skilled self employed individual? She is not an imported wife.

#EducateYourselfFoo (in my MR T voice)


Who’s next?

Wow. Citing an article by Melania's personal attorney. However do you find these unbiased sources? /s

Nobody ever said Trump trolls were very bright.

 

[pappy53]

Trump's steel tariffs is why GM just laid off everyone.

Congratulations Trump voters, you played yourself.

The US economy is a globalist one that seeks open borders and free trade. The quicker you understand that, the better off you will be in this country.

Apple is doing exactly that by designing products by brilliant engineers in Silicon Valley, while having them built by cheaper, lower educated people in China.

If a person in China can build something for cheaper than in America, LET THEM - that is economic efficiency. An efficient economy will always win over an corrupt, inefficient one. Americans should only do jobs that only Americans can do, like high-end services jobs. Our economy is based on massive higher-education - the best in the world. No other country has a university system like ours, and we should take advantage of that.

We don't want Americans to perform manual labor that oxen can do. We only want engineers and scientists and artist - people that can create value with their minds.

New York, Silicon Valley and Hollywood are good examples of the kind of economy the US should be going forward.

A good example of complete economic failure is Russia - their economy is entirely based on selling things they find on the ground. When was the last time anyone bought something designed/made in Russia?

Steel tariffs had nothing to do with it. They are dropping the Cruze, Volt, Impala, Cadillac CT6, and Buick LaCrosse due to lack of sales and a move toward SUV's.

 

[wizard]

[yawn]

We're dealing with someone who thinks you can simply rake and clean forest floors to prevent forest fires.

Actually forest management is a big part of preventing forest fires. The fires in California would never had been as bad as they where if proper forest management practices where in effect. You shouldn't blame Trump when the media doesn't understand his comments.

But lets take Trump out of the picture for a minute, most of California is either desert or extremely dry land, and always has been. Forest fires and grass fires have always been a problem there. Yet I have had people in California argue this point with me as if they have lost all objectivity. Frankly it is pretty stupid to believe that there wouldn't be massive fires in California now or in the future. Basically California is a tinder box ready to explode at any moment, I kinda wish that people in the state would actually travel to the more temperate and wetter parts of the nation to understand why their state goes up in flames every year. By the way every year is pretty accurate as I've been on the planet for 58 years now and there is hardly a year that goes by with out a major fire in California. Yes we had news back in those days and even in black and white California in flames is always impressive.

So in a nut shell Trump is right that forestry management in California sucks, and even a little effort would go a long ways.

 

[GermanSuplex]

Actually forest management is a big part of preventing forest fires. The fires in California would never had been as bad as they where if proper forest management practices where in effect. You shouldn't blame Trump when the media doesn't understand his comments.

Trump needs an interpreter more than any immigrant I've ever seen.

The guy could have said "we need to improve management, find funding and resources so this doesn't happen again", etc.

Nope, "raking. We need to rake."

 

[curtvaughan]

Wouldn't just about every consumer product see an increase? Dell, HP...Amazon echo. They aren't being put together here. I think Amazon would be hit the hardest as they sell at a loss already. Or are all other companies exempt from tariffs?

Those were my thoughts. Apparently the idea is to apply tariffs to any tech company HQ'd in the U.S. but outsourced overseas for manufacture/production. Here's a list of mobile phone makers and the countries in which they are based. I wonder how many of the 13 listed as based in the U.S. actually manufacture their products in the U.S.? I haven't checked, but bet none of them are. So tariffs should affect all of those companies. Out of the 13 based in the U.S., only Google compares at the high end with its Pixel. Apple's chief phone competitors are all foreign based.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mobile_phone_makers_by_country

 

[sirozha]

Trump needs an interpreter more than any immigrant I've ever seen.

The guy could have said "we need to improve management, find funding and resources so this doesn't happen again", etc.

Nope, "raking. We need to rake."

He may need an interpreter, but he was spot on why the California fires were so devastating. When a state must spend resources on educating and providing welfare for millions of illegal aliens, the money needs to be cut elsewhere. The bankrupt state like California can’t take care of its forests. It’s obvious if one pulls one’s head out of one’s rear end.

 

[Glideslope]

If you don't like what the company is doing or direction it is heading, sell the stock. It's how it works, political or apolitical.

Personally, as a shareholder, I'd support the BOD if they move in that direction.

I don't see Arthur moving the BOD in that direction unfortunately. Arthur may have to go first, then Cook.

 

[wizard]

You've been fed a bunch of Faux News Breitbart bull about this "taking advantage" crap. The same goes for the USMCA. Yes, a 23 year old trade agreement was long overdue for some updating, but if you think the USMCA is all sunshine and roses, you've been hoodwinked.

Since when is any sort of trade agreement perfect?

Welcome to the post-WWII global economy. Take some classes or just read some books on international political economy.

The only reason we are in the situation with China that we are now is that several decades of political support sent vast quantities of manufacturing, tech and other jobs to China. Basically we built up China failing economy on the backs of workers and in many cases entire industries in the USA. So yeah politics but rather disgusting politics.

Oh, right, education is just a form of "liberal indoctrination."

There are effective ways to posture and negotiate with other global powers (that's what we adults call it--not "bluffing" when the stakes are this high). Acting like a bull in a China shop (pun slightly intended) is not among them.

Actually China has literally turned evil in the last 2-3 years. The only real end game here is a major war that likely nukes millions of people. The problem is we empowered China through our political system to build up its country into a war machine. Frankly it sounds like some of the stupidity that occurred prior to WW2. I'm actually glad that Trump is trying something different because the alternative is pretty disgusting.

I was willing to give the guy the benefit of the doubt that all his nonsense might be part of some higher strategy. But after 2+ years, that's pretty clearly been debunked. He's just an idiot and a petulant child.

You people...

An idiot? That is a little extreme considering what we had to put up with when Obama was in office. Just look at what happened to alternative power while Obama was in office. In about 8 years we lost almost all solar electric panel manufacturing, 123 went under and a lot of allied businesses failed. All of this while the administration was supposedly trying to put us on a new direction with respect to energy.

 

[marco114]

These import tariffs will hurt in some places. It will disrupt industry. That's the point of them.

The US is in trouble. Middle America voted for Trump because they see the problems that need fixing. We need to re-invent ourselves if we are going to survive as a country. 30% of low-wage repetitive jobs will be gone in 10 years due to automation.

We don't need as many cars as we used to. Things are more automated than ever. A lot of my younger friends take uber everywhere because it's cheaper than owning a car. Or, they live close to work. The younger generation is mobile and moves around. Gone are the days of having a job for 30 years. Heck even 10 years is considered long. Soon we won't even own cars. We will subscribe to a car service that picks us up autonomously. Only service type workers will own cars (plumbers, electricians, people that need to carry stuff around).

We bailed out car companies a decade ago, and they thanked us by moving plants to Mexico. The US has gotten lazy and outsources way too much. In the meantime, our population becomes dumber and dumber. We have a huge trade deficit, and it needs to be fixed. The world is owning us, like it or not. It's already happening and it's probably too late. We are borrowing at record levels. All this needs to change.

We need more high-tech factories and production in the US. This is why Trump is imposing tariffs. Have you ever heard of VAT? It's on everything in Europe. Canada has import taxes too.

Facebook is likely dead in 5 years. All those jobs are going to be gone too.

People seriously need a wakeup call. Now go get your Starbucks and get to work, it's almost 10am.

 

[mikethemartian]

Trump was upset about the caravaniers rushing the Mexican border and stoning the Mexican border guards and warned that the same thing would happen to the US border if they were not stopped. Everyone derided him six weeks ago.

Lo and behold, the caravaniers got to the US border and decided to take it by storm while stoning the US Border Guard under the human shield of women and children.

You can say what you want about Trump. He is definitely not a studious person. But the guy has uncanny instincts to be able to glance at an issue and make a statement based on nothing but hunch that turns out to be spot on more often than not.

I watched five hundred men rushing the US border with just a few women and children among them. That violent storming of the US border didn’t look like a bunch of refugees asking for asylum. It looked like an attempt to force their way into the US by a bunch of thugs, who in fact assaulted the US border guard with projectiles, just like Trump predicted it would happen.

I definitely don’t want these thugs in my country, and I’m an immigrant myself who waited for 18 years to get my US citizenship.


The guy who needs to be removed from office is Tim Cook. He has surfed the wave created by Steve well, but the wave has just crashed onto the shore, and Tim has no idea how to create another wave.

If Trump was president when you came to the US he might not have let you in.

 

[Tinmania]

Please no. Hollywood The White House is exactly what we should not be going forward. The lack of ethics and morals in Hollywood the White House should disturb everyone.

Fixed that for you.


Mike

 

[PlainviewX]

Tariffs are a tax on the middle and lower classes, period. That's all they are. Companies don't absorb tariffs past the initial window. The costs are passed on to consumers as fast as possible. They don't hurt the wealthy because they can afford price increases. The absurdity, and void of reality, by trump, which is no longer surprising, that people can just magically afford a 10% increase on goods, when wages have not changed, and are far behind the cost of living increases, should frighten everyone, even his every faithful base.

 

[KPandian1]

https://jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com/how-did-melania-trump-get-u-s-citizenship/
#EducateYourselfFoo (in my MR T voice)

From the hyperlinked "news" article above, the "lawyer" states:

“There is no doubt that she is highly accomplished,” Mr. Wildes said. “She has been associated with some of the biggest ad campaigns in the world, and she was highly remunerated.”

Mr. Wildes could not remember what those ad campaigns were, he said. They were all documented, however, he added, and the government accepted that documentation.

(Mr. Wildes suggested that a good place to find reports of Ms. Trump’s successful career would be on the internet. Google tells us that Ms. Trump was the cover model for a Bulgarian issue of Harper’s Bazaar, an Italian issue of Vanity Fair GQ — in 2000, she posed nude for that magazine — and a Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. She also worked with well-known photographers including Patrick Demarchelier and Helmut Newton.)

Ms. Trump has chosen not to release any of the documentation she provided to the government, which would put the public’s questions to rest, but “why should she release them?” Mr. Wildes asked. “The government reviewed them and trusted her. She’s not releasing them because she doesn’t feel that her privacy needs to be invaded. She was transparent about the indicia in her passport — but they are personal documents.

Only a PR spin article for Melania; lawyers' affiliation to any party is not a valid indicator.

 

[DougFNJ]

Is it me, or is does it seem that this administration is actively trying to sabotage our economy?

I mean, what sense do these tariffs make? So far they've only caused problems. What is the end goal here?

I don’t know about that, he threatened to place a very unpopular tariff on Canada and Mexico, and everybody screamed and cried from the hilltops about how bad this is, and how bad he is. Mexico made a deal. At the 11th hour, Canada who said they would never make a deal... made a deal. And just like that we ended up better off.

I’d say this president has done better for the economy in less than 2 years than the last 2 presidents did in 16 years. With GM, their poor reputation and building terrible products followed by terrible deals with unions and poor management is leading to their own peril. When American cars started getting manufactured with more Chinese parts made by more Chinese, Mexican, and Canadian workers, that didn’t help their cause. The short term bailout ultimately didn’t fix their long term problem. GM does not make a good product anymore.

As far as this tariff, China is hurting worse from this than we are, and eventually a deal will be made there too, and the news cycle will move to the next “terrible” move Trump will make.

Short term pain for long term gain. Just like the other deals, wait and see how it plays out.

 

[curtvaughan]

Is it me, or is does it seem that this administration is actively trying to sabotage our economy?

I mean, what sense do these tariffs make? So far they've only caused problems. What is the end goal here?

The only active motivation behind Trump's policies is to placate his base - diehard Trump supporters. To do that, he promises them jobs in declining industries in coal and manufacturing, preaches that immigrants and foreign products should be punished with deportation, walls, and tariffs, and insults our allies in the name of American exceptionalism. That these policies sabotage our country is simply a side effect of this motivation.