Trump threatens 25pc tariff if iPhones not made in US

US President Donald Trump on Friday threatened Apple with a 25 per cent tariff if iPhones were not built in the United States, sending the company's share price sharply lower.

Apple has become a main target of Trump's anger at companies keeping their manufacturing overseas and his singling out of a specific company for tariffs is highly unusual.

While designed in the United States, most of Apple's iPhone assembly happens in China, which is caught up in a bitter trade war with the US.

As a workaround, Apple has made announcements that it was shifting production to other countries, including India, but the US president said this would not solve the problem.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he had "long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhones that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else."

"If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25 per cent must be paid by Apple to the US," he added.

Trump's comments Friday echoed statements he made last week while on a trip to Qatar, urging Apple to bring iPhone production to US shores.

"I had a little problem with Tim Cook," Trump said on 15 May.

The president said he told Apple chief executive Cook: "We're not interested in you building in India... we want you to build here and they're going to be upping their production in the United States."

Analysts broadly agree that shifting iPhone manufacturing to the United States is unrealistic, and would require a major rethink of the company's business model that could take many years, if possible at all.

Despite some shift in production, about 90 per cent of Apple's iPhone production and assembly is based in China, according to Wedbush Securities' estimates.

Reshoring iPhone production to the United States "is a fairy tale that is not feasible," Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said in a note.

With constant pressure coming from the White House, Apple's share price has shed more than 20 per cent since the beginning of the year when Trump took office with his protectionist agenda.

On Friday its shares were trading a little below three per cent.

In the first Trump term, Apple was given exceptions to the White House's onslaught on China trade ties, but this time around his company has become a regular presidential target.