Trump Suggests 'Easy Solution' for Apple to Avoid Tariffs Amid China Trade Row

21:28 GMT, 8 September 2018

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - US President Donald Trump advised the world's wealthiest company, Apple Inc., on Saturday to produce its computers, servers, devices, phones and other gadgets in the United States, responding to company concerns that new tariffs on Chinese imports could lead to a rise in the price of Apple goods.

Sputnik

On Friday, Apple sent a letter to US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, in which it warned of a probable increase in prices for many of its goods for the US consumers in light of possible new duties on the Chinese imports, proposed by Trump.

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"Apple prices may increase because of the massive Tariffs we may be imposing on China — but there is an easy solution where there would be ZERO tax, and indeed a tax incentive. Make your products in the United States instead of China. Start building new plants now. Exciting!" Trump tweeted.

Currently almost all of Apple's production line is based outside the United States, including in China.

In early August, Lighthizer said Trump had asked him to consider raising tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods from 10 to 25 percent. On Friday, Trump said that the United States was ready to proceed with imposing additional tariffs on Chinese products worth $267 billion.

The China-US trade tensions sharply escalated in March, after Trump announced import duties on steel and aluminium. Since then, Washington and Beijing exchanged several rounds of tit-for-tat tariffs, with bilateral trade consultations failing to yield results.