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Trump's Planned Tariffs on Imported Steel and Aluminum Would Likely Apply to Apple Products
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Raw materials, partially finished goods and finished goods each have completely sets of tariffs that apply to them.
So if you wanted to import sheet steel for manufacturing, you would pay a tariff on the steel. But if you imported a car or toaster made out of that steel, you likely wouldn't pay a tariff based on the amount of steel in that product, you'd just pay a tariff on the fact that it was a toaster.
I don't see why this would change -- for one thing, it's impossible to certify where the metal in a product came from (given that metal is imported from all over the world based exclusively on price and much of it will be recycled as part of the industrial process). For another, the added value due to manufacturing of a commercial good is generally much, much higher than the value of the metal inside it. Aluminum is currently $1 per pound; the iPhone is 4.55oz: a 100% tariff on an iPhone made out of 100% aluminum would be an extra $.28.
Also worth keeping in mind: China's incoming tariffs are mostly double digit and that doesn't stop Apple from using Gorilla Glass.
iPhones, and many other electronics, have a 0% tariff when imported from China. If you cared about a manufacturing gap, you might focus on that, and not making steel more expensive.
(I work in cross-border commerce).
So if you wanted to import sheet steel for manufacturing, you would pay a tariff on the steel. But if you imported a car or toaster made out of that steel, you likely wouldn't pay a tariff based on the amount of steel in that product, you'd just pay a tariff on the fact that it was a toaster.
I don't see why this would change -- for one thing, it's impossible to certify where the metal in a product came from (given that metal is imported from all over the world based exclusively on price and much of it will be recycled as part of the industrial process). For another, the added value due to manufacturing of a commercial good is generally much, much higher than the value of the metal inside it. Aluminum is currently $1 per pound; the iPhone is 4.55oz: a 100% tariff on an iPhone made out of 100% aluminum would be an extra $.28.
Also worth keeping in mind: China's incoming tariffs are mostly double digit and that doesn't stop Apple from using Gorilla Glass.
iPhones, and many other electronics, have a 0% tariff when imported from China. If you cared about a manufacturing gap, you might focus on that, and not making steel more expensive.
(I work in cross-border commerce).
The Donald must have no construction projects going on. You forget that he used Chinese steel in his recent building projects? When you're a business man and the quality of the product is just as good, price wins. America be damned if it means saving $100M (I'm making that number up, the savings was probably quite significant).
Canadian here ...
Trade wars work like this: There is a great deal of integration between the American and Canadian auto industries. Steel/Aluminum components travel from Canada and are assessed with a tariff. That same steel assembled in the US is now potentially assessed with a punitive vehicle import tariff when that vehicle comes back across the border. Both the American auto worker and Canadian Steel worker loose.
Interesting read as to what percentage of "domestic" vehicles is actually made in the US. http://kogodbusiness.com/auto-index/
International supply chains are complicated.
Trade wars work like this: There is a great deal of integration between the American and Canadian auto industries. Steel/Aluminum components travel from Canada and are assessed with a tariff. That same steel assembled in the US is now potentially assessed with a punitive vehicle import tariff when that vehicle comes back across the border. Both the American auto worker and Canadian Steel worker loose.
Interesting read as to what percentage of "domestic" vehicles is actually made in the US. http://kogodbusiness.com/auto-index/
International supply chains are complicated.
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no coincidence... trump said he was doing this from the start.
If nobody wanted that Chinese metal then American companies wouldn't be buying it. The best thing a USA citizen who cares about their country could do right now is to send trump a beginners guide to economics. Anyone who thinks a trade war is a good thing really shouldn't be in his position.
Interesting take. A world wide consortium of reporters working their butts off to create fake news about the President, all for little benefit to themselves.
Or it could be that among with the numerous character flaws you listed, Trump is perhaps not suitable for the most demanding job in the world?
But you know, Occam's razor and all that.
If that’s the case then the tariff should be directed at China; not this across the board isolationist move. This isn’t going to hurt China nearly as much as it will hurt our allies and other American companies. No one wins in a trade war and could be the start of a recession/depression if other countries start retaliating.
Steel hasn’t contributed meaningfully to our economy in a long time. This is Trump not understanding the modern economy... trying to recreate a 1950’s America in 2020, and trying to appeal to his shrinking base at the expense of the rest of the nation.
The current u.s economy has had little impact due to trump. The seeds were planted before trump became president. The u.s economy has just followed the trend path.
Yeah, the economy sucks now compared to the last President...
You don’t lower taxes and increase tariffs when the economy is booming. Trump - well, whoever he does shady business with, because Trump doesn’t do or understand anything beyond CEO robbery- is trying to soften the blow the corporate tax cuts will do. Funny enough, we can talk about Apple and big companies, but this will hurt small businesses more. Lots of companies use steel and aluminum. American goods sometimes cost more.
How about leave tarrifs the same, and offer small businesses tax credits to offset the higher price of American-made? Oh, not enough for the corporate swine. We’d break even then.
How about leave tarrifs the same, and offer small businesses tax credits to offset the higher price of American-made? Oh, not enough for the corporate swine. We’d break even then.
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Shame on people like you taxing companies to subsidize unprofitable local industries.
Wrong. Trump has been talking about this for decades. His focus used to be on Japan but now more so China, which influences China to do something about NK.
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Shame on you for failing to realize why our local industries are failing.
This comment is factually wrong on so many different levels. China has been accused of flooding the market with cheap steel, but there are no tariffs against America steel. By definition free trade means little or no tariff. Matching other countries' tariffs means more protectionism. The best way to encourage free trade is through FTAs. Even with cheap Chinese steel, the situation isn't as one-sided as you think. Sectors like automobile, aerospace, heavy equipment, and construction relies on cheap steel and aluminum to remain globally competitive.
Lastly, Mac Pros are not made of steel.
This is vague in a thread about Trump... this is a leftist move, I agree. I won’t lie that libs love taxes. We just want them to go back into the pool instead of a pocket.
You don't win trade wars. The man is a moron. China ranks like 11th in terms of suppliers of steel in the US, they aren't even the top Asian exporter to the US.
This. We're gonna piss off a bunch of allies before even getting to China. I wonder if he knows we get more steel from Russia? Even GWB tried this and rolled it back in less than 2 years to avoid a harmful trade war.
We elected the dumbest mothereffer out there.
