US President, Donald Trump, has clarified that Apple will not be given any tariff waiver on Mac Pro components made in China. In a customary belligerent tweet on Friday, Trump said: “Apple will not be given tariff waiver, or relief, for Mac Pro parts that are made in China. Make them in the USA, no Tariffs!”. While the tweet has since been deleted, the value of Apple shares dipped on NASDAQ following the message.
As The Wall Street Journal reported last June, Apple plans to move production of its Mac Pro computer from the US to China despite the ongoing trade war between the two countries. According to the New York daily, which cited “people familiar with the matter”, Apple has chosen China-based contract manufacturer, Quanta Computer, to produce the new Mac Pro at one of its Shanghai plants.
Unveiled at the WWDC event last month in San Jose, California, the latest Mac Pro is designed for professional video editors and, starts at a price of $6,000. This is the last large device that Apple still makes in the US, but it is manufactured in relatively small numbers, given its exorbitant pricing. The company, last June, asked the US government that it refrain from imposing new tariffs on imports from China to minimize any adverse effects on Apple products, including iPhones, iPad tablets and Mac computers.
The US-China trade war started last year following Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on some $300 billion worth of Chinese goods imported annually into the US, while the Chinese government, led by Xi Jinping, did the same with US products valued at $60 billion. At the recent G20 Summit last June, Trump and Xi came to a trade truce, after which no further tariffs have been levied, though the ones already decreed remain in effect.
With inputs from IANS
