The Trump administration doesn't want to "harm Apple" with tariffs on iPhones made outside the United States, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said Tuesday, despite President Donald Trump's comments over the weekend that a 25% tariff could be levied against the devices.
"Everybody is trying to make it seem like it's a catastrophe if there's a tiny little tariff on them right now, to try to negotiate down the tariffs," Hassett said on CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Tuesday. "In the end, we'll see what happens. We'll see what the update is, but we don't want to harm Apple."
Trump posted on social media Sunday that he informed Apple CEO "long ago" that he expected that the iPhones sold in the United States "will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else. If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the U.S. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
Apple has historically made phones and other products in China, India, Vietnam, and other countries because of manufacturing costs. Some estimates say an iPhone made in the United States could cost consumers as much as $3,500.
But Hassett said that if Apple "has a factory someplace that's got a set number of iPhones that it produces and it needs to sell them no matter what, then Apple will bear those tariffs, not consumers, because it's an elastic supply."
The administration has been pushing companies to absorb the cost burden of tariffs instead of raising prices for consumers, telling Walmart earlier this month to "eat" the tariffs after it warned that prices would have to go up because of the additional costs.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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