We left! Donald Trump threatens Apple of at least 25% tax if his iPhone is not made in the United States

“It’s been a long time since I informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhone who will be sold in the United States to be manufactured and built in the United States, not in India or elsewhere. “, Threats Donald Trump from his social social account this Friday. Before driving the point “if it is not the case, Apple will have to pay customs duties of at least 25 % in the United States”.

India is not a solution …

Last week, during his tour in the countries of the Persian Gulf, the American president said he said to Tim Cook, boss of Apple: “We treated you very well. We have accepted all the factories you have built in China for years “, then specify” it does not interest us that you build it in India. India can take care of itself, it is fine. »»

Since the coming to power of Donald Trump and the initiation of his all -round trade war, and in particular against China, the giants of American tech, Apple in mind, had to advance to forced march the diversification of their sources of production. If the American president seems to have returned from his frontal shock with China, with a 90-day truce, having finally understood that he had a lot to lose, he does not seem to have abandoned his desire to see the tech (and the automobile) giants repatriate the manufacture of their products in the United States. This is what it is today again.

During the announcement of the latest income from its last tax quarter, at the beginning of the month, Apple had, by the voice of Tim Cook, announced that “the majority of the iPhone sold in the United States”, during the current quarter, comes from India. The fruit of a violent reorganization of its supply chain which aimed as much to avoid customs duties of 145% imposed on products imported from China as well as to show the good will of Apple.

The impossibility of an Iphone of American

The problem is that the Cupertino company, any more than the other Big Tech cannot repatriate the production of their most popular products on American soil. First there is the supply chain which would require to be completely overhauled, explained to us last April the analyst Daniel Ives, from Wedbush cabinet. A complex balancingist exercise which is the culmination of decades of optimization on the part of the American giants and their partners. Because it is important to understand that Apple does not have factories, which are the property of long -standing partners like Foxconn in Megatron. Even if Tim Cook’s company is investing billions of dollars in a factory to allow the rapid adaptation of a production chain to new technology, for example.
If the assembly is done in China, India or even Vietnam, it is also that most of the components are produced in this geographical region. Once again the supply chain has been formed over the years. It is therefore not only the assembly plant that should be moved but the entire ecosystem. And, in the meantime, this would mean that the components should be imported from China and Asia, and would therefore be taxed …

30 billion in three years … for 10% of the channel …

For Daniel Ives, repatriating these jobs, not necessarily all very qualified, would take time and cost Apple a fortune. “The cost structure means that it is impossible. He explained to us. “Apple is expected to spend $ 30 billion in three years to move only 10% of its supply chain in the United States. »»
And the bad news does not stop there. According to the analyst’s calculations, “an American iPhone cost $ 3,500”.

And this is obviously without counting on the historical response, and always valid, from Steve Jobs to Barack Obama, who asked him what it would be for the iPhone-related jobs to return to North American soil. “These jobs will not come back,” replied the then Apple’s then boss. For reasons of quantity and quality of the workforce available, for reasons of legal and tolerated working conditions in China and not in the United States, etc.

The question is ultimately not so much to know if Donald Trump’s Maga dream is in line with the economic entanglement of a system that the United States has largely contributed to implementing, like all post-industrial western economies … But rather whether American consumers are ready to pay an iPhone at least three times more expensive. And also to know if American employees are ready to return to work to the chain in “Chinese” conditions …

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