Estimating the cost to Apple of paying President Trump’s import tariffs, Bank of America believes that a 9% price hike for the iPhone and all other devices, would prevent losses.
Apple CEO Tim Cook [left] with Donald Trump [right] at a Mac Pro factory
It’s a fiction that other countries will pay tariffs, as instead all such costs will always be borne by US companies. In the case of Apple, it has previously earned an exemption — though not consistently — and it has tried to reduce the impact of tariffs by moving manufacturing to different countries.
According to CNBC, this time that spreading of the manufacturing around various locations is not going to help. Bank of America now estimates that whatever Apple does with manufacturing, and wherever it does it, the company will face a minimum of a 10% tariff.