White House says Trump doesn't want to harm Apple and iPhone prices won't rise
Trump advisor Kevin Hassett has played down the "tiny little tariff" on firms such as Apple and strangely insists consumers won't pay more for iPhones.
The White House's Kevin Hassett insists buyers will not have to pay more for iPhones because of tariffs
In announcing a 25% tariff on all imported iPhones, Trump took the unusual step of admitting it would be Apple that pays, rather than his usual false claim that foreign countries will. Now in repeating this, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett has treated tariff complaints as a joke -- and also insisted that Apple will not raise prices.
"I'm kind of like the person in an airplane that's getting walloped over the head by everybody," he said in an interview with CNBC, "where everybody says, 'Oh, like, we're never going to be able to do anything if we have this tariff, it's going to be a disaster if we have this tariff.'"
In a confusing interview, he said both that CEOs come in to complain like this, but then "tell me the opposite because they don't want [their] bonds to be downgraded."
"So the point is that everybody is trying to make it seem like it's a catastrophe if there's a tiny little tariff on them right now," he continued, "to try to negotiate down the tariffs."
Hassett did admit that it was "impossible to move things overnight," and so that Apple could not immediately reshore iPhone production. But he would not confirm whether the Trump administration would grant a reprieve if Apple were to announce a years-long plan to move manufacturing to the US.
"We'll see what happens," he replied, "we'll see what the end game is, but we don't want to harm Apple."
Apple has already said that it expected to spend $900 million solely on tariffs in its June quarter. But that was before the latest 25% tariff, which investment firms like Morgan Stanley believe mean Apple will have to raise prices.
Trump has ordered Walmart to not pass on the costs of his tariffs to consumers, and even Home Depot which voluntarily said it would do this, has admitted it may stop stocking heavily-tariffed items.
Apple has seemingly not received such an order, but Hassett, as director of the National Economic Council and with a PhD in economics, doesn't see a problem. Apple simply will not pass on tariff prices to consumers, he said.
"And in the end, if you think that Apple has a factory someplace that's got like a set number of iPhones that it produces, and it needs to sell them no matter what," he continued, "then Apple will bear those tariffs, not consumers, because it's an elastic supply."
Supply elasticity refers to how quickly a company can respond to price changes. Specifically, it regards how Apple could theoretically produce more or fewer iPhones depending on changes in demand.
Apple can and annually does revise its manufacturing orders, shifting production to match demand. However, this has no connection with whether Apple will bear the 25% cost imposed by Trump, reportedly as punishment for Tim Cook not attending an event.
It also has no bearing on the tariffs that the White House has prejudged will come after the current national security investigation into semiconductors.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
Also, every tariff issued by executive4 order, is illegal, as the power to tax is the province of congress.
2026 elections are ahead.
Good luck beating Apple.
ask not what your country can do for you - ask how much will it cost me to keep Trumpo off my back?
These officials have zero clue what’s going on, because nothing is cleared with them, nothing is planned, and nothing makes sense.
Oppose his wishes, and he'll threaten you or deport you or sue you. Or, in the case of the courts, simply ignore you.
Of course, in most of the videos I've seen, people are blaming Walmart for "price gouging".
And not placing the blame where it truly belongs.
25% must be "tiny" since it's not half or 3/4 of the cost, so sure Apple will eat it and iPhones won't cost as a penny more. Let's just wait and see — it'll all just work itself out. Yeah, right.
Trump surrounds himself with intelligent people? WTF. I thought that poster for got the /sarc tag till I saw their second post. Delusional. Except for maybe two Repubs who didn't vote for the Big Beautiful Bill, no one on the right side of the aisle is trying to control moderate or influence him toward what was once "normal". Not even close.
Trump is the White House with all his vassals wearing fealty pins of the felon's likeness instead of the American flag. Trump was corrupt long before coming to the White House the first time and he's only leveled up since then. He has surrounded himself not with advisors but with enablers. An inner circle who fear him and are out for themselves like the authoritarian they serve. Hassett won't try to influence or manage him.
Trump would be a laughing stock if it weren't for the fact that he's POTUS. So he appoints Hassett as one of the "intelligent" people around him? The Spin is weak in that one. He was clearly selected for his Cult appeal. Hassett said that if Apple had a supply of iPhone somewhere that 'they have to sell them Right?" So Apple won't raise the price. Huh? Apple will eat 25% increase in cost? Any wonder why The Felon has had six bankruptcies in his private businesses? And Hassett has a PhD in economics?
As Trump gets loonier and loonier (anybody see Ol' Bonespur's speech at West Point?) and yet manages to maintain his malicious self, people like Hassett try to spin his actions as something reasonable that won't harm Apple or the American people. Neither Trump nor his administration have any interest in the American people in general other than what we can do for him regardless of the cost to us.
Big Beautiful Bill, beautiful coal. Yeah intelligent influencers. They've done a great job reining him in so far. We just have to be patient and ignore the yippies. It'll all work out. Right.
Trump is right about one thing. It will get worse (much worse) before it gets better. He'll see to it.
This product is still astronomically cheaper than the rebranded bells at REI of the exact product for $32 each!! So now Trump's tariff is higher than the manufacturer's profits. What happens to this tariff, where does it go? And the tariff is not a deterrent since the product is still cheaper. The tariffs are a tax on Americans, not Chinese. Their price did not change for them, but it did for me and to those who buy in bulk and rebrand.