If you’re considering the purchase of a new iPhone, MacBook, or other Apple device, you might want to do it sooner rather than later, else you may end up paying up to 10% more for your shiny new precious.
President Donald Trump, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Monday suggested he may impose a new round of tariffs on Chinese produced products if an upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping fails to ease trade tensions. Such tariffs could add as much as 10% to the price of an iPhone.
President Trump says he intends to move ahead with boosting tariff levels on $200 billion of Chinese goods to 25%, calling it “highly unlikely” that he would accept Beijing’s request to hold off on the increase.
“Maybe. Maybe. Depends on what the rate is,” he said about duties on phones and computers. “I mean, I can make it 10 percent, and people could stand that very easily.”
A 10% tax would likely result in higher prices for U.S. consumers. It remains unclear how Apple would respond to a 10% tariff hike on its products, but it’s likely that the iPhone maker would pass the increase onto consumers, as would most companies in their position.
Presidents Trump and Xi are scheduled to meet later this week to discuss the ongoing trade battle between the U.S. and China.