The Apple boss, so told the US president, advised him from new billion-dollar tariffs. And Donald Trump did postpone the introduction of new taxes for many products. How important this grace period for entrepreneur Tim Cook is well, now shows an analysis of the US group to the supply chains of his group, reported on the news agency Reuters.
Apple's dependence on China has risen sharply in recent years. In 2015, just under 45 percent of Apple's suppliers had sat in the People's Republic - the companies that provide components such as glass, aluminum housing, cables and electronic components. The proportion rose to 2019 to 47.6 percent. Apple did not comment on the analysis.
The number of sites of contractors such as Foxconn or Pegatron also increased, at Foxconn from about 19 sites in 2015 to 29 this year. Although Apple has in recent years also used plants in other countries such as India or Brazil. However, these factories are smaller.
Trump had said after the conversation with Cook, the Apple boss had given him a striking argument with a comparison to Samsung. "It's hard for Apple to pay the tariffs if they're competing with a very good company that they do not have to pay," said the US president. At the same time, he left no doubt as to which steps he expects from Cook - after all, he praised him extensively for the creation of new US jobs.
Capacity problem outside of China
Originally Trump had planned a far-reaching special tariff of ten percent, which should apply from September. From this now mobile phones, laptops, monitors, video games, certain toys, some shoes and clothing are now excluded. Even Apple's most important product, the iPhone, now receives this grace period - and according to the US Trade Representative, according to customs cleared only from 15 December.
Trump's anger in the trade conflict is directed against his country's large deficit in trade with the People's Republic. The US president accuses the government in Beijing of not sticking to promises. Again and again, Apple gets into the center of the conflict, which has so far made its iPhones almost exclusively in China. The company is therefore considering, according to media reports, the production of the iPhone models for the US market in countries such as Vietnam to relocate.
But sometimes it just makes the required production volume according to experts difficult to move the production in other states. Outside of China, "there are few places in the world with an infrastructure to build 600,000 smartphones every day," said Dave Evans, head of San Francisco-based Fictiv supply chain company. In addition, the density of subcontractors in China allows the manufacture of millions of devices per year with low inventory levels.
