President Donald Trump says Apple CEO Tim Cook “made a very compelling argument” that tariffs on China will hamper Apple’s ability to compete with Samsung. The pair had dinner on Friday night at the president’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, and Trump described the conversation to reporters from publications including Bloomberg, CNBC, and Fox News on the way back to Washington.
“I had a very good meeting with Tim Cook,” Trump said. “I have a lot of respect for Tim Cook, and Tim was talking to me about tariffs. And one of the things, and he made a good case, is that Samsung is their number-one competitor, and Samsung is not paying tariffs because they’re based in South Korea.”
“And it’s tough for Apple to pay tariffs if they’re competing with a very good company that’s not. I said, ‘How good a competitor?’ He said they are a very good competitor. So Samsung is not paying tariffs because they’re based in a different location, mostly South Korea but they’re based in South Korea. And I thought he made a very compelling argument, so I’m thinking about it.”
Most of Apple’s products are assembled in China and will be subject to an additional 10 percent import tax later this year. This is due to go into effect on September 1st for products like the Apple Watch and AirPods, though the iPhone, iPad, and MacBook lineup won’t be hit until December 15th after a delay to accommodate the holiday shopping season.
Samsung has a more diversified supply chain, with much of its manufacturing located in South Korea and Vietnam. As such, the company won’t be hit as hard by the Trump administration’s ongoing trade war with China. Apple is said to be looking at moving more of its manufacturing elsewhere.
Trump gave advance word of the dinner with Cook on Twitter Friday evening, saying Apple “will be spending vast sums of money in the US. Great!” though he doesn’t appear to have mentioned any details of further US investment in his comments to reporters.
Comments
My read is he’s dropping these tidbits now so when they back off of the trade war, it doesn’t look like they blinked. Already happened with the September tariff delay to December, and conditions are deteriorating globally and in the US.
By tipoo on 08.18.19 10:33pm
No, Trump just always says one thing, realizes he’s not on message and then says something else. His brain isn’t hitting on all cylinders.
By Just_Some_Nobody on 08.19.19 9:13am
No, he has a lot of people working for him so they can’t all be stupid. I wish people would stop thinking Trump doesn’t know what he is doing, he knows exactly what he is doing and that is the scary part.
By MA2756AM on 08.19.19 9:55am
Judging by how everything has been going, it seems to me that he has no idea what is going on and he has surrounded himself with robotic yes-men who are too scared to tell him he is wrong and stupid
By Mithril on 08.19.19 11:36am
I’m thinking a little of column A, and a little of column B. He’s not just a senile old man out there shouting whatever comes to mind (though there is some of that). He has plans (usually poorly thought out) and does work to enact them. The constant BS is a fairly typical way of diverting attention and re-framing the narrative. Say awful thing A, then immediately say worse thing B so that somehow A becomes the less-odious thing.
His ability to actually follow through on anything is severely hamstrung by this coterie of yes-men and constant (self-inflicted) staffing problems.
By ench on 08.19.19 12:09pm
Donnie is a spoiled rich kid who inherited money and power. Donnie was raised to take and abuse what he wants and then leaves a dumpster fire for others to clean up. He is a non-leader bullshitter in way over his head.
By keberber on 08.19.19 3:58pm
I agree. They also dropped tidbits prior to when it was officially announced that Trump had Cohen pay off Stormy Daniel’s.
Everyone thought Giuliani was crazy when he dropped the tidbit but that was actually a smart strategy.
By Random897 on 08.19.19 9:54am
He’s just going to start a trade war with South Korea, isn’t he
By zduboss on 08.18.19 10:37pm
No he’s more probably going to give exception to Apple from these tariffs. He had this dinner to discuss how much bribe campaign donation will apple pay to his 2020 re election campaign
By NotACookieMonster on 08.18.19 11:07pm
Maybe Apple will repatriate some of their cash horde into an investment in one of Trump’s "non profits".
By Winklemeier on 08.19.19 12:43am
I’m not a Trump fan, and that’s just silly.
By JFitzgerald on 08.19.19 4:21am
Because the man has such integrity
By BlackToe on 08.19.19 7:02am
as much as any corporation out there I would say, and considering trumps base is made of people who hate him for the way he was born, I would think that’s about right.
Are you really far gone on apple that you think this openly gay man is ok with trumpers? Seriously, people who irrationally hate apple: everything they have done, so has your personal fav, MS or Google. They are all the same. You are a joke.
By JesseDegenerate on 08.19.19 7:54am
He might have been referring to Trump’s integrity.
By Winklemeier on 08.19.19 8:12am
oh shit. you right. my bad. times ten.
By JesseDegenerate on 08.19.19 3:04pm
You’re always complaining about people being fans of things so good to see this horrendous rant backfire.
By onwu on 08.20.19 9:33am
Trump isn’t anti-gay so I don’t see how it’s relevant.
By Sleuth-Killa on 08.19.19 12:13pm
He supports lots of people who are, and that’s enough.
By slider41 on 08.19.19 12:51pm
Including his Vice President
By SRPuffinstuff on 08.19.19 2:06pm
Actually Donald Trump doesn’t have a charity any more. The Donald J. Trump Foundation was forcibly shut down by the New York attorney general for quote: "engaging in a shocking pattern of illegality" that included illegally coordinating with Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and using nontaxed charitable donations to buy personal items for Trump including an enormous portrait. This isn’t a conspiracy theory. This happened last year and it barely made the news.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/18/nyregion/ny-ag-underwood-trump-foundation.html
By nickguy69 on 08.19.19 9:33am
Wow. I didn’t know that. He must have really cleaned up his act following that, eh?
By Winklemeier on 08.19.19 11:15am
Yeah now we all know him as a paragon of honesty and transparancy as well as always saying things that are sensible and carefully articulated. He will be known in the history books as the president with no legal or ethical entanglements or conflict with staff.
By nickguy69 on 08.19.19 11:38am
Except Apple is one of the few large companies that purposely doesn’t make any political contributions.
https://www.apple.com/public-policy-advocacy/
By sanremo on 08.19.19 2:56am
Fixed it for you. Lobbying can be done without an official contribution….there are many ways to pay for….
By TheEvilFlint on 08.19.19 3:32am
Citation required. Please provide evidence for one of those "many ways to pay" that Apple has directly contributed towards Trump?
By sanremo on 08.19.19 3:35am