New China trade deal will put the threat of tariffs to bed for Apple
- jan
- 15
What you need to know
- The US and China have been sparring over tariffs.
- Apple products would have been hit with a 15% tariff.
- But a new trade deal signals the end of that threat.
A win for Apple.
US President Donald Trump will sign a new trade deal with Chinese head of state Liu He today. It will signal the end of a long trade battle between the two countries and will see the end of the possibility of tariffs being applied to imported iPhones and other Apple products.
There was the real possibility of iPhones being levied with a 15% tariff because they are made in China. As are many of Apple's products. That 15% tariff was halted pending today's deal, but there was still very much the possibility something could go awry.
If the 15% tariff had come into force Apple would have been dealt with in the same manner as any Chinese company due to the volume of completed products it would be importing. And some of those could have seen tariffs as high as 30%, including desktop Macs like iMac and Mac Pro. US-bound Mac Pro machines are already built in the United States, so wouldn't have been impacted.
The new trade deal is being seen as a win by the Trump administration, although as 9to5Mac points out, that's a matter for debate.