The trade war between the U.S. and China began affecting Apple on Sept. 1 as a 15% tariff hit AirPods, Apple Watches, and headphones, reports Bloomberg. U.S. levies on iPhones will take place in December.
President Donald Trump’s 15% China tariffs were entered into the Federal Register on Friday, Aug. 30, making the move official. At 12.01 a.m. local time on Sunday in Washington, the levies kicked in for hundreds of products entering the U.S. or being withdrawn from warehouses for consumption in the U.S., according to the order.
“The U.S. adding tariffs to any Apple product without some type of corresponding offset to mitigate the negative effects crosses the Rubicon on many dimensions,” Gene Munster of Loup Ventures, wrote in a note, as noted by Bloomberg. “We believe the U.S. does not want to be the first to add tariffs to Apple, given Apple is arguably the leading U.S. company and the face of American business in China. The optics of a U.S. protectionist first approach penalizing a U.S. global leading company while China doesn’t penalize Apple would seem to surrender the moral high ground.”
(The images accompanying this article are courtesy of ceotodaymagazine.com and dhakatribune.com.)
