- Trump threatens 25% of non -American iPhones.
- Actions fall in the United States and Europe; Dollar Down, Gold Up.
- Apple’s planned American investments do not include iPhone production.
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, threatened on Friday to raise his trade war on Friday, putting pressure on a rate of 50% on European Union from June 1 and warn Apple that he could slap a 25% levy on all imported iPhones bought by American consumers.
The twin threats, delivered via social networks, disrupted the world markets after weeks of de -escalation provided a little stay in the tariff battle. The main American scholarships and European stocks have dropped and the dollar has weakened, while the price of gold, a paradise for investors, increased. The yields of the US Treasury fell on fears of the effect of tariffs on economic growth.
Trump’s wide side against the EU was caused by the conviction of the White House that negotiations with the block do not progress quickly enough. Its saber-dratling also marked a return to the Washington Start and start-up trade war which rocked markets, businesses and consumers and has raised fears of a global economic slowdown.
The president’s attack on Apple is his last attempt to put pressure on a specific company to move production in the United States, following car manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies and flea manufacturers.
The United States, however, does not produce mass, even if American consumers buy more than 60 million phones per year – and the production of travel would probably increase the cost of hundreds of dollars.
Later Friday, Trump told journalists inside the oval office that his price offered on Apple would also apply to “Samsung and anyone who manufactures this product”, referring to smartphones. He said he expected the new tax in place by the end of June.
Trump reiterated his complaint that the European Union has treated the United States badly and prevented the United States from selling cars in the EU. “And I just said:” It’s time that we were playing the game as I know how to play the game. “”
“I’m not looking for an agreement,” said Trump when he was asked if he expected an agreement before June 1. “We have concluded the agreement – it’s 50%. But again, there is no price if they build their plant here.”
EU’s head of commerce, Maros Sefcovic, said that the European Commission, the EU executive branch, was fully determined to conclude an agreement that operated for both parties, after a Friday telephone call with the American counterpart Jamieson Greer and the US Secretary in Commerce Howard Lunick. He added that the EU-US trade “must be guided by mutual respect, not threats”.
Addressing Hague journalists, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof supported the EU strategy in commercial negotiations and said the EU was likely to see this last announcement in the negotiations.
“We have already seen that the prices can go up and down in talks with the United States,” he said.
The White House has interrupted most of the punishing prices that Trump announced in early April in almost all countries of the world after investors furiously sold American assets, including government obligations and the US dollar. Trump has left a reference tax of 10% on most imports and then reduced his massive tax by 145% on Chinese products to 30%.
A 50% direct debit on EU imports could increase consumer prices over everything, from German cars to Italian olive oil.
Total EU exports to the United States last year totaled around 500 billion euros ($ 566 billion), led by Germany (161 billion euros), Ireland (72 billion euros) and Italy (65 billion euros). Pharmaceutical products, cars and automotive parts, chemicals and planes were among the largest exports, according to EU data.
Disputes on the price
The White House has been in commercial negotiations with many countries, but the progress has been unstable. The financial leaders of the group of seven industrialized democracies tried to minimize disputes over prices earlier during the week during a forum in the Canadian rocky mountains.
“The EU is one of Trump’s least favorite regions, and it does not seem to have good relations with its leaders, which increases the chances of an extended trade war between the two,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB.
Japan talks seemed less loaded.
Friday, after having met Libreick and Greer, Japan’s best commercial negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, said that the two parties had discussed commercial expansion, non -tariff obstacles and economic security problems. He described their talks as frank and more in -depth than before.
Addressing journalists, Akazawa said that even if it would be great if an agreement could be concluded when Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba meet at the Summit of the group of seven next month in Canada, he would not rush just to conclude an agreement.
“Our country has national interests that must be protected, so it is not enough to simply forge an agreement quickly,” said Akazawa. “As a negotiator, I can tell you that in the negotiations, the party has been stuck to a deadline generally loses.”
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent would not comment on other potential trade agreements, but said Fox News That it would have been announced the end of the 90 -day break on reciprocal prices in July.
Apple refused to comment on the threat of Trump, which would reverse the exclusions he has given on smartphones and other electronics largely imported from China in a break for large technological companies that sell consumer goods.
Apple’s shares fell 3% after Trump said in a social position at the start of the truth that he said that there is a long time ago the CEO of the company, “I expect their iPhones which will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not in India or anywhere.”
Cook and Trump met on Tuesday, according to a source familiar with the situation.
Apple accelerates plans to make most of the iPhones sold in the United States in factories in India by the end of 2026 to navigate potentially higher prices in China.
But the chances of moving production in the United States are thinner. In February, Apple said that it would spend $ 500 billion over four years in nine American states, but this investment was not intended to provide iPhone manufacturing in the United States.
“It is difficult to imagine that Apple can be fully in accordance with this request from the president in the next 3 to 5 years,” said Davidson and the co-analyste Gil Luria.
