- Friday, May 23, 2025
The US president has threatened to impose 50 per cent tariff on imports from the European Union from June 1, as the trade talks “are going nowhere”
By: India Weekly
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump revived his trade threats on Friday, by warning Apple that he would impose a new 25 per cent tariff as they have failed to move iPhone production to the United States, despite his repeated requests.
Trump threatened to impose a 25 per cent tariff on iPhones sold, but not manufactured, in the United States.
More than 60 million phones are sold in the United States annually, but the country has no smartphone manufacturing.
“I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhones that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
“If that is not the case, a tariff of at least 25 per cent must be paid by Apple to the US.”
Trump did not give a timeframe for his warning to Apple.
It is not clear if Trump can levy a tariff on an individual company. Apple did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
After Trump imposed over 100 per cent levies on China in early April, the White House backed off due to market turmoil.
It also granted exclusions from steep tariffs on smartphones and some other electronics imported largely from China.
These measures had provided a temporary relief for Apple and other tech firms that rely on imported products.
Most of Apple’s iPhone assembly happens in China, although the company has in recent years been shifting production to India.
Apple is positioning India as an alternative manufacturing base amid Trump’s tariffs on China that have raised fears of higher iPhone prices.
But Trump and others, including commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, have suggested Apple could make iPhones in the United States.
In February, Apple said it will spend $500 billion over four years to expand hiring and facilities in nine American states, but it did not say the investment would go towards bringing iPhone manufacturing to the US.
Trump has also expressed his displeasure over the trade negotiations with the EU, which he lamented “are going nowhere.”
He said on Truth Social that he is recommending 50 per cent tariff on imports from the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025.
The EU Commission on Friday declined to comment on Trump’s recommendation, saying it would wait for a phone call between EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic and his US counterpart Jamieson Greer later in the day.
If the new duties come into effect, they would dramatically hike Washington’s current baseline levy of 10 per cent, and raise economic tensions between the world’s biggest economy and its largest trading bloc.
The talks between the United States and the EU have failed to make much progress, with Brussels recently threatening to hit US goods worth nearly $113 billion with tariffs if it does not lower the duties on European goods.
In his early morning social media post on Friday, Trump said the EU had been “formed for the primary purpose of taking advantage of the United States on TRADE,” and took a swipe at the “difficult” negotiations taking place.
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin took to X to call Trump’s announcement “enormously disappointing.”
Ireland was the second-largest EU exporter of goods to the United States last year, after Germany, according to Eurostat.
“I have always been clear in my view that tariffs are damaging to all sides,” Martin said, adding: “We do not need to go down this road.”
These two announcements have roiled the markets, with S&P 500 futures losing 1.5 per cent in premarket activity and the Eurostoxx 600 dropping 2 per cent.
Shares of Apple fell 3.5% in premarket trading, along with shares of other technology majors.
