Apple jumps on hopes that new tariffs won’t be as bad as old ones
It’s been a wild weekend for Apple after what’s been a wild two weeks for the iPhone maker.
Late Friday, a notice from the US Customs and Border Protection exempted smartphones, computers, and semiconductor equipment from the sky-high reciprocal tariffs in China of 125%. Apple, of course, makes many of its products, including about 90% of iPhones, in China, so such tariffs would have had devastating consequences for its bottom line.
But the Trump administration dampened some of the stock’s ensuing optimism with a series of comments over the weekend, saying iPhones and other electronics would still face tariffs, just different ones, as part of sector-specific levies on goods with semiconductors.
“NOBODY is getting ‘off the hook,’” President Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, Sunday. “There was no Tariff ‘exception’ announced on Friday. These products are subject to the existing 20% Fentanyl Tariffs, and they are just moving to a different Tariff ‘bucket.’”
He added, “We are taking a look at Semiconductors and the WHOLE ELECTRONICS SUPPLY CHAIN.”
Trump has said he’ll be “very specific” about the those new tariffs today. Still, it’s unlikely the new tariffs will be as high as those on the rest of products imported from China. And while it waits for those to go into effect — potentially “a month or two” — the iPhone maker has a little more time to try and outsmart them.
Traders seem optimistic. Apple is up more than 5% premarket.
