Kuo: Apple Better Off Taking 25% Tariff Hit Than Move iPhone Production to US

[bsolar]

Raising taxes from 21% to 35%+ isn't a good substitute for tarriffs, not to mention the other stuff businesses would have to pay for

I think you are underestimating the impact of tariffs. There is a reason the market almost crashed and the administration had to quickly walk back to them as they were imposed in their original form.

People are tired of jobs being sent overseas. Apple has a choice -- either move some of the manufacturing out of China and back to the U.S. and pay significantly less taxes, or continue to do the stupid thing and keep manfacturing in China and pay the tarriffs.

You do realize on one side you seem to be completely opposed to "lefties" telling Apple how to conduct business, then you turn around and are perfectly fine with the current administration... telling Apple how to conduct business.

Furthermore, the whole point of the article is that even with those ridiculously high tariffs manufacturing is likely not coming back.

I don't know why people feel sorry for Apple here. Apple doesn't make life saving products, or sell food, drinks, or other essential goods to people -- they sell laptops, tablets, and cell phones. If people don't want to pay the tarriffs in the end, buy a Samsung phone.

Apple is being asked to do something implausible to achieve an equally implausible goal. Manufacturing jobs are not the future in first world countries no matter how much politicians push for them. A combination of high labor cost and automation will make them less and less relevant, not more.

People look at the 50's when manufacturing was employing over 30% of the US workforce and think the future needs to be in that direction, but those times are not coming back.

 

[visualseed]

https://digitaledition.chicagotribune.com/tribune/




Also, maybe part of the problem is an engineering degree in the US costs a hillion jillion dollars.

&, according to a Mistral search:

There's no way in hell anything in the US can compete with that. & these are trained, skilled assembly workers...

China made the decision in the mid-to-late '70s that they were going to be "open for global business", but it wasn't until the early 2000s that they actually began to realized that vision at scale. They had to reengineer every aspect of their society and economy to make it work over the course of decades (and generations). The West has neither the capacity nor resources to do this. Imagine every US manufacturer on the S&P going negative growth for decades to support US policy. Investors would revolt and take their money elsewhere. The US could not borrow (nor print) enough money to subsidize it and republican and free market policies are against the grand social changes necessary to make it possible anyway.

 

[CapitalIdea]

Apple will spread out its factories in the future. When automation, fully robotic plants, and factory robots are a thing. Once you cut people out of the factory and can have it run 24-7, having them spread across the world makes sense. So getting what we wish for in this sense is many factories in the US that hardly have any people in them.

Exactly. And when some tech company announces “a $30bn investment that will create thousands of jobs” it really means a bunch of one-time short term construction jobs for a building, a bunch of one-time bulk deliveries of very expensive gear, and then a final count of 150 people (few or none of whom voted for this administration) manning a data center. Meanwhile all the gullible ones go on and complain later about how they are being replaced.

 

[bsolar]

Imagine every US manufacturer on the S&P going negative growth for decades to support US policy. Investors would revolt and take their money elsewhere. The US could not borrow (nor print) enough money to subsidize it and republican and free market policies are against the grand social changes necessary to make it possible anyway.

On paper they might say they are against, but in practice the current administration is effectively steering the US away from a free market and towards a planned economy to try to achieve those goals.

 

[Dutch60]

There are no facts in this article, so the facts don't exist. Kuo is simply stating an opinion -- he has no influence over decisions that are made.

So?

 

[Dutch60]

Clearly free market capitalism, civil liberties, and meritocracy aren't for you. Plenty of socialist countries across the pond you might enjoy more.

Just curious….which countries do you mean?

Heck, you may as well just skip the long downward spiral into eventual tyranny, and head straight to North Korea. I hope you like eating insects and grassy weeds. Not many meats over there to speak of, Big Al.

 

[macmac30]

iPhones total cost is around $500. So a 25% tariff would add $125 of cost.

 

[AeroEd]

Sorry for my ignorance , but what exactly is “capootalism”?

A 💩 economic system

 

[AeroEd]

the free market isn't bad by itself but it needs to be severely regulated and we can't do that because the internet will start screaming they're gonna feed us with communism and the gay agenda.

There's a good case to be made that the republican party is far-right nowadays

If it’s severely regulated, then is it a “ free “ market?

 

[AeroEd]

“…with no guarantee of replicating the scale, cost structure, or speed of existing operations in Asia.“

Or levels of quality.

We have to start somewhere sometime, cus as of now we are making China’a and India’s militaries bigger, better, stronger by funding their development via use of their cheap labor and existing manufacturing infrastructure.
Our capitalist/owner class made China into a global superpower in just a few decades all for short term profits.
Well now those profits are being threatened bc like I said, it makes no sense to fund their military as much as we are and have been.

 

[AeroEd]

On paper they might say they are against, but in practice the current administration is effectively steering the US away from a free market and towards a planned economy to try to achieve those goals.

There Is no such thing as a free market(s). It doesn’t exist. Free markets are a myth. It’s a capitalist political manipulation talking point.

 

[AeroEd]

https://digitaledition.chicagotribune.com/tribune/




Also, maybe part of the problem is an engineering degree in the US costs a hillion jillion dollars.

&, according to a Mistral search:

There's no way in hell anything in the US can compete with that. & these are trained, skilled assembly workers...

What is a skilled assembly worker? 😂 and why can’t we train them here?
No one seems to be able to tell me what skills these factory workers assembling phones in an assembly line possess.

 

[bsolar]

There Is no such thing as a free market(s). It doesn’t exist. Free markets are a myth. It’s a capitalist political manipulation talking point.

Real world markets of course have limitations that make them different from an ideal free market, but the concept of free market is still helpful to categorize markets that are more in line with those principles as opposed to markets that are not.

In general, an ideal model never exists in reality but it doesn't mean real world systems cannot be categorized under it if they have enough similarities.

As example, many countries are considered to respect freedom of speech, but freedom of speech even in those countries is still limited in some way. There is still value in recognizing countries which fundamentally respect freedom of speech although freedom of speech in reality is never absolute.

 

[Dutch60]

More helpful than someone that just endlessly throws money at Ukraine with nothing in return for our support.

Sure….ending that war in 24 hours? No.
In 100 days maybe? No.
Promised negotiations? No.
All fairytales by your very helpful great leader.
At the moment Putin sees this blabla and attitude of your president as an encouragement and even an invitation for further aggression and so more and more rockets and drones are dropped on civilians in Ukraine.

Very helpful indeed! Thank you mr. Trump!

At the moment even more people are dying than ever before in that war. On average more than 1000 deaths a day, every single day…and that's only Russians and not even counting the true victims (Ukrainians).
And then mr.T constantly talks about how bad this war is…and that it has to end.
And now…suddenly it's a European affair and he wants to pull out (like a dog with his tail between his legs, because he doesn't want to anger Putin in any way ofcourse).
He could indeed end this war in maybe one or 2 weeks….but he refuses to do so. Putin has him on a leash and plays him like a puppet. Maybe you should wonder why he can do that….without any action or even criticism from the almighty mr. T.; not even a bad word about that dictator.
This doesn't strike you as strange??

Insulting and threatening Zelensky and Ukraine as if they started this cruel war. Never a bad word about Putin.
This doesn't strike you as strange??
So 1 conclusion possible….mr. T does not want this war ending.
Trump truly is a peacemaker, isn't he? The leader of the most powerful country in the world is not able to stop this war??
He doesn't give a thing about any country (including US!); only himself en his own business.
There's another massacre going on in Gaza. Mr. T doen't care…except when he can do business ofcourse.
I wonder how far your beloved president can go, before a majority of American citizens realize all this….probably too late by then.

I do say however, that European countries have done far too little for their own defense. They should pay and invest much, much more. They now are busy doing right that. Thank you mr. T.

By the way….Europeans paid much, much more for military support in Ukraine than the USA, despite the fairy tales mr. T. likes everyone to believe.

 

[bsolar]

What is a skilled assembly worker? 😂 and why can’t we train them here?
No one seems to be able to tell me what skills these factory workers assembling phones in an assembly line possess.

Ability to work under pressure, discipline, dexterity, knowledge of one's role and procedures, etc... It's nothing new to be honest, it's not like assembly work is non-existent in first world countries.

It is definitely possible in theory to train more assembly workers in the US or other first world countries: the question is how much it would cost and who is going to pay the price for that, also considering that the workers would need the manufacturing infrastructure to be actually employable and that factors in the cost.

If the cost is too high even if possible in theory it's not going to happen in practice.

 

[jimbobb24]

Every single person except the President knew this. Maybe he knows to and just doesnt like it.

 

[frownface]

I can imagine it now.

It's only a matter of time until some smart alec reporter says to the president during a conference "but it'll still be cheaper for apple to pay 25% than move production to the usa"

After 10 seconds of blank staring the orange will say "then i'll make it 250%!"

Reporter: "still cheaper"

Orange : "2500%!"

The reporter then leaves, satisfied. Revealing themselves to be Mr Sam Sung.

 

[Dark_Omen]

Math is not “opinions.” Take your alternative facts elsewhere.

Kuo is more irrelevant than I am. His opinions mean nothing, and there are no mathmatical facts in the article.

 

[Jonnod III]

And who will pay for it you might ask? Oh yeah that’s right… the American people.

The American People voted for Trumpton, so they might as well pay for it too.

 

[frownface]

The American People voted for Trumpton, so they might as well pay for it too.

Unless apple pull a sony and start raising prices internationally to "smooth" out the impact on the US market.

 

[Remy149]

More helpful than someone that just endlessly throws money at Ukraine with nothing in return for our support.

It’s disgusting to think that a country fighting off an invasion is expected to be making some type of return for support.

 

[paulvee]

It’s disgusting to think that a country fighting off an invasion is expected to be making some type of return for support.

More disingenuous quick

More helpful than someone that just endlessly throws money at Ukraine with nothing in return for our support.

More disingenuous, right wing talking points. Points that overlook basic geopolitics. When France bailed us out in the revolution, it was to help themselves as well as to help us. They were Britain's foe. When we sent help in 1918 - quite late in the war, it helped us as well as Europe. And when we went to war in 1941 - against the wishes of that generation of America-Firsters, it was to save Western civilization. When we spent all that money on the Marshall plan after the war, it was to ensure stability in Europe and to oppose the soon-to-be Warsaw pact. All of these interventions paid off spectacularly, in moral and in economic terms. Money invested to help Ukraine end the war that Putin started. The war that Putin started, I might repeat, goes to help our EU and NATO allies and to ensure stability globally. Ukraine is doing the bleeding here. History will offer a clear vision of this. Nobody ever will be saying we got "nothing in return." Only Fox news robots, repeating fascist talking points, will say those words.

 

[hanske68]

Apple better move to Europe, make privacy first technology core. Tim, make Apple #1 again. Waiting for your call ;-)

 

[evanmarx]

Trump just wants to get richer on the tariffs... he is counting on Apple to rather take the tariff hit...he prefers them to NOT take any action, because he then makes money on it and apple prices stay low... inland us production is just a pretense

 

[Dark_Omen]

More disingenuous quick

More disingenuous, right wing talking points. Points that overlook basic geopolitics. When France bailed us out in the revolution, it was to help themselves as well as to help us. They were Britain's foe. When we sent help in 1918 - quite late in the war, it helped us as well as Europe. And when we went to war in 1941 - against the wishes of that generation of America-Firsters, it was to save Western civilization. When we spent all that money on the Marshall plan after the war, it was to ensure stability in Europe and to oppose the soon-to-be Warsaw pact. All of these interventions paid off spectacularly, in moral and in economic terms. Money invested to help Ukraine end the war that Putin started. The war that Putin started, I might repeat, goes to help our EU and NATO allies and to ensure stability globally. Ukraine is doing the bleeding here. History will offer a clear vision of this. Nobody ever will be saying we got "nothing in return." Only Fox news robots, repeating fascist talking points, will say those words.

Lol. We weren't almost 40 trillion in debt during those wars. Irrelevant points.