U.S. stocks — including Apple — dipped for a fourth straight days after President Donald Trump’s threat to escalate the trade war with China.
The tech giant’s tock fell a bit in Friday trading, with shares down as much as 1% in afternoon trading, though, by close, the dip had narrowed to 0.81%. Still, the result of the tariff wars may also be higher prices on some of the company’s products such as the Apple Watch, AirPod, HomePod, and Apple Pencil.
The latest of Trump’s proposals would see a 25% tariff on around $200 billion worth of Chinese imports. In a letter submitted to U.S. officials, Apple said, “Our concern with these tariffs is that the U.S. will be hardest hit, and that will result in lower U.S. growth and competitiveness and higher prices for U.S. consumers.”
“The risks are real and there’s increasing evidence that we’re closer to more of a full blown trade war,” Bong-Seok Choi, director of research at San Francisco-based Wetherby Asset Management, tells Bloomberg. “The trade wars only serve as a catalyst for the turning of the cycle. Things can change rather quickly, so the trade war, if a lot of the threats do materialize, I think things will turn very quickly.”
