Trump’s tariff tantrum could send iPhone prices soaring

President Donald Trump is once again using the presidency as a bludgeon, this time threatening Apple with steep tariffs unless it starts making iPhones in the U.S.

“I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhone’s that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else,” Trump posted Friday on Truth Social. “If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the U.S.”

The post landed with immediate impact: Apple shares dropped about 3% in premarket trading.

Trump’s threat marks the latest salvo in a weeks-long pressure campaign to force the tech giant into ramping up domestic manufacturing. He and Cook met at the White House earlier this week, per Politico. And while Trump still calls the Apple CEO his “friend,” this is vintage Trump: praise in one hand, a cudgel in the other.

Notably, Cook was one of the billionaires who ponied up $1 million for Trump’s 2025 inauguration and showed up in person. Loyalty only goes so far, apparently.

Trump’s beef with Apple isn’t new. He’s long complained about the company’s shift to India—a move spurred in part by Trump’s own China tariffs. After those levies kicked in, Apple accelerated the transition of final assembly for U.S.-bound devices to India, which has a friendlier trade relationship with Washington.

Apple has already warned that tariffs are taking a toll. In a recent earnings call, Cook said the company expects about $900 million in additional tariff-related costs this quarter alone. He called the outlook “very difficult” to predict beyond June, because, well, Trump tends to announce these things on a whim.

Tech analysts agree that making some iPhones in the U.S. is feasible, but building the full supply chain and assembling them here will be impossible, as the nation lacks the infrastructure, the workforce, and the capacity to pull it off at scale.

And even if Apple tried, it’d cost consumers. Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives predicted a made-in-America iPhone would run $3,500. The current iPhone 16 Pro goes for about $1,000. So, yeah, add phones to the growing list of things getting pricier under Trump, right alongside cars, flowers, groceries, and toys.

The iPhone, after all, is a global product—assembled mostly in China, packed with high-end components sourced from dozens of countries. It’s not something you can just relocate to Ohio overnight.

Apple’s not the first company to invoke Trump’s ire. He’s taken public swipes at Amazon, Walmart, and others during his never-ending trade war. But going after a specific consumer product with a tariff threat is a new low, even for him. And it’s still unclear how, or if, he could legally pull it off.

Apple won’t be the last target, either. Hours after the iPhone rant, Trump posted again—this time calling for a 50% tariff on all products from the European Union.

“Our discussions with them are going nowhere!” he wrote on Truth Social. “Therefore, I am recommending a straight 50% Tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025.”

That would more than double the 20% “reciprocal” tariff briefly enacted in April, and it signals rising tensions even as the U.S. has backed off some earlier tariffs.

It seems as though Trump is lashing out because he’s mad: Mad that his trade war hasn’t delivered the manufacturing renaissance he promised. Mad that his bullying hasn’t bent Apple or the EU to his will. Now he’s flailing—and tweeting through it.

But voters aren’t buying it. A new Civiqs poll for Daily Kos found 53% of registered voters oppose Trump’s tariffs on foreign goods. Another 56% say they’ve personally noticed price hikes because of them.

Even on his supposed core message—“Made in America”—the public is split. Asked whether they’d rather bring jobs back or keep prices low, voters were dead even: 46% each.

So Trump is pushing policies no one wants, driving up costs, and potentially alienating the very billionaires who helped put him back in office. Guess the second term isn’t going so hot.

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