Trump’s Tariff Policy: An Apparent Double Standard for Apple?

Do you know how I knew that Trump would be the 47th President of the United States of America?

It wasn’t when Elon jumped on the MAGA bandwagon big time.

It wasn’t when Trump appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast.

It was when Tim Cook broke bread with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. It was on one night in November 2024, and the rest are days of our future past. I know what you’re very likely to say. Nah, this isn’t the first time Cook and Trump met. True. Plus, there’s a long list of Silicon Valley’s guests. Also true. But, there’s more than one catch.

“Tim Cook held a meeting on Friday with Donald J. Trump at Mar-a-Lago, marking the first time that Apple’s chief executive has met with the president-elect since voters elected him to a second term last month.”

Here’s the thing. Just because we meet from time to time and order McDonald’s, it doesn’t mean we’re besties. For what it is worth, Tim Apple has obviously cracked Trump’s code like no other tech guy:

“Mr. Cook has become something of a model for corporate executives looking to stay on good terms with Mr. Trump. During Mr. Trump’s first term, the president heaped praise on Mr. Cook, saying that he liked that Mr. Cook called him directly to discuss business and economic issues. The approach helped Mr. Cook build a personal relationship with Mr. Trump and helped Apple avoid tariffs on many of its products, even as the Trump administration cracked down on other companies manufacturing in China. In contrast, other tech giants have spent the last month working to repair damage in their relationships with Mr. Trump. In addition to Mr. Zuckerberg and Mr. Pichai, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is scheduled to meet with Mr. Trump next week.”

“Oh, I have it with everybody, but he’s the one that calls me. You know why? That’s why he’s a great executive because he calls me, and others don’t,” Trump told reporters in August, shortly after a dinner with Cook. “Others go out and hire very expensive consultants, and Tim Cook calls Donald Trump directly. Pretty good. And I would take their call, too, but the only one that calls me is Tim Cook.”

The President said Cook calls him “whenever there’s a problem.” In August, that problem, Trump said, was tariffs.

To Avoid A Financial Torture – One Must Fight The Business Future

It’s not a secret that Trump has been a fan of tariffs for quite some time. So, don’t look surprised. What did you think was going to happen? Apple saw it coming:

“The moment took place in February 2011, during a private dinner in California hosted by then-President Barack Obama. Present at the table were some of Silicon Valley’s most influential leaders, including Google’s then-CEO Eric Schmidt, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and Jobs himself. Each guest was encouraged to pose a question to the president — but it was Obama who turned to Jobs and asked: “What would it take to make iPhones in the United States?” Jobs’s response was blunt and unwavering: “Those jobs aren’t coming back,” a guest at the dinner told The New York Times.”

Apple prepared. Apple acted.

Tech giant Apple chartered cargo flights to ferry 600 tons of iPhones, or as many as 1.5 million, to the United States from India, after it stepped up production there in an effort to beat President Donald Trump’s tariffs, sources told Reuters.

Reuters did the math:

• 6 cargo jets
• 100 tons each
• An iPhone 14 Plus charger, around 350 grams
• 600 tons
• 1.5 million devices

And, when Apple is flying, there’s no time for waiting:

“The company lobbied Indian airport authorities to cut to six hours the time needed to clear customs at the Chennai airport in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, down from 30 hours, the source added. The so-called “green corridor” arrangement at the airport in the Indian manufacturing hub emulated a model Apple uses at some airports in China, the source said.”

With hundreds of millions of iPhones being sold annually and globally, the “wings of freedom” special edition operation by Apple, with “only” 1.5M devices, is a drop in the tariffs’ ocean. Something more needed to be done. The electronic products were exempted from the tariffs.

That’s what friends are for. Talking about friends.

With Friends Like These…

“The U.S. Customs and Border Protection said that electronics, including smartphones and laptops, would be excluded from broader, so-called “reciprocal” tariffs — meaning these goods wouldn’t be subject to most tariffs levied on China to date or the 10% baseline levies imposed on other countries. But U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick later said that this was only a temporary reprieve — telling ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that electronics will be included under future sector-specific tariffs on semiconductor products, set to arrive in “probably a month or two.” And not all of the levies that the U.S. has imposed on countries like China fall under the White House’s “reciprocal” categorization. Hours after Lutnick’s comments, Trump declared on social media that there was no “exception” at all, adding to confusion.”

Confused, but not amused. “This is the land of confusion.”

“Oh, Superman, where are you now?” Man of Steel. There’s a 25% tariff on imported steel.

This article was originally published by Nebojsa “Nesha” Todorovic on HackerNoon.