RE: I phone retreat13 Apr 2025 14:42
A very public repricing of iPhones has been avoided, but still may occur if, as the White House has said, the previously imposed 20% tariffs on China related to the powerful opioid fentanyl, remain in place.
Tim Cook, the chief executive of Apple, is a key player here. He can walk into a meeting with both US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. It is not an outlandish prediction to suggest that, if it comes, any peace in the US-China trade war could be brokered by Mr Cook.
That's based on his deep fundamental role in connecting the two economies. He was hand-selected by Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs for his unrivalled expertise in just-in-time supply logistics.
'Art of the Repeal'
This is all moving rather quickly now. Weekend reports in the US press claim White House trade hawk Pete Navarro is being sidelined too, in favour of US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Navarro was the author of the infamous equation that set so-called reciprocal tariff rates in proportion to the size of a country's trade surplus with the US, calling it "the sum of all cheating".
Bessent is now leading negotiations with trade partners seeking to avoid the reapplication of those rates after the 90-day pause.
There is a big question after 10 days of chaos. What is the incentive for other nations to offer much here? The Trump administration is clearly spooked by the bond market reaction to the president's trade plans, and questions surrounding the safe haven status of US debt for investors.