President Trump threatened Apple (AAPL) on Friday with 25% duties on overseas-made iPhones, the latest entry in a long list of company-specific tariff threats from the president stretching back to his first term in office.
He also has a history of not following through on these warnings, often ending them with a claim of victory or by simply dropping the issue.
Trump himself alluded to the frequency of his threats, writing Friday that he “long ago informed [Apple CEO] Tim Cook” of his position and his focus on iPhone manufacturing in India. The president added that not complying would take the form of a tariff that “must be paid by Apple to the U.S.”
The companies that Trump has singled out in a similar manner since his first administration range from John Deere (DE) to General Motors (GM) and others. He has also made previous threats against Apple dating back to 2016, even before he took office.
“Companies like Apple will start making their iPhones and other products inside the United States,” Trump promised that year when part of his first campaign’s platform was 35% tariffs on companies if they move overseas.
In recent weeks, Trump has also called out at least four other companies by name — Walmart (WMT), Amazon (AMZN), Ford (F), and Mattel (MAT) — over the possibility that they could raise prices due to tariffs.
The threats from Trump do have the ability to affect investor sentiment. Apple’s stock fell more than 2% on Friday morning following Trump’s warning, issued on Truth Social.
In Apple’s case, in spite of Trump’s years of threats and the recent opening of new US Apple manufacturing facilities around AI and silicon engineering, no iPhones are currently made in the United States now, as in 2016, and that isn’t seen as likely to change anytime soon.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives quickly reacted to Trump’s threat by posting that a scenario of Apple acceding to Trump “would result in an iPhone price point [of ~$3,500 and] that is a non-starter for Cupertino.”
He offered more details as to why in a note to investors, citing an “upside down cost model and Herculean-like supply chain logistics needed for such an initiative.”
Also Friday morning, Trump announced he was “recommending” a 50% tariff on the European Union in a separate post that quickly drove down broader markets alongside the Apple broadside.
Another company often in focus for Trump during his most recent presidential campaign was John Deere, with Trump last September promising a 200% tariff on the company over “everything that you want to sell into the United States” amid concerns that the company would move operations to Mexico.
