Donald Trump considers sparing Apple from US tariffs on China
US president accuses Beijing of failing to make sufficient concessions to pause trade war
Donald Trump said he may spare Apple from new US tariffs on Chinese goods if tensions escalate next month, as he accused Beijing of failing to make enough concessions to merit a deal to pause the trade war.
On a day when US politics were dominated by the impeachment hearings on Capitol Hill, the president flew to Austin, Texas, with his daughter Ivanka and Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, to visit an Apple manufacturing plant with Tim Cook, chief executive of the technology company.
Mr Trump was asked about the state of trade negotiations with China, which were supposed to yield what the he has described as a “phase one” agreement by the middle of November. But talks have dragged on amid more disagreements between Washington and Beijing.
The US has considered rolling back some existing tariffs in order to reach a ceasefire deal but only if Beijing is willing to offer firmer compromises on agriculture and intellectual property, according to people familiar with the matter.
“China would much rather make a trade deal than I would,” Mr Trump said. “I haven’t wanted to do it yet because I don’t think they’re stepping up to the level that I want.”
Mr Trump has developed a relationship with Mr Cook throughout his presidency and signalled that he would be willing to offer some tariff exemptions from for the company.
“When you build in the United States, you don’t have to worry about tariffs,” Mr Trump said, adding that he would “look into” a reprieve from levies for the iPhone maker. “We have to treat Apple on a somewhat similar basis as we treat Samsung,” he said.
Samsung of South Korea is Apple’s main competitor in the smartphone business. Mr Trump suggested a US trade deal with Seoul offered Samsung an unfair competitive advantage compared to Apple because of the tariffs. The Korean company also has a large presence in Texas, including about 6,000 employees and a semiconductor manufacturing plant in Austin.
Mr Trump called Mr Cook a “very special person” and nudged him to offer an upbeat assessment of the state of the US economy in an exchange in front of reporters. “I think we have the strongest economy in the world right now,” Mr Cook said.
If no trade deal is reached by the middle of December and Mr Trump does not delay the levies, a further $156bn of Chinese imports — including a wide variety of consumer goods — will be hit by 15 per cent tariffs. The deadline is likely to focus the minds of US and Chinese negotiators in the coming days.
The talks have been complicated by the protests and police crackdown in Hong Kong, even though both sides have said the issues should be treated separately. The US House of Representatives passed a bill that would force the Trump administration to re-examine the city’s special trade status every year, providing a boost to protesters after the Senate approved the legislation on Tuesday.
The legislation has infuriated Beijing and has been sent to Mr Trump for his signature at an awkward time. In June, the Financial Times reported the president told Chinese leader Xi Jinping the US would tone down its criticism of Beijing’s approach to Hong Kong to revive trade talks.
If Mr Trump signs the legislation, China could be offended and balk. If he refuses in order to avoiding angering Beijing, China hawks in Washington could react furiously.