Trump Threatens Apple With 25% Tariff, Proposes 50% Tariff on EU! Will It Stick?

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So the president, he takes a bite out of Apple and he bombs the EU. Yeah, it’s just your usual Friday morning here. All right, let’s go through here. Here’s a tweet about Apple. I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhones that will be sold in the United States of America to be manufactured and built in the United States, not India or anyplace else.

If that is not the case, a tariff of at least 25 % must be paid by Apple to the US. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

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Okay, this is to everybody out there that likes to drink the Kool-Aid. This is fascist. This is something that a fascist would do. Fascist, socialist, common, same thing. Okay, same coin, different sides. Okay, no doubt about it.

However.

think it’s a little bit deeper than that. Okay, I really do. What I think Trump is trying to do right now with Apple and Tim Cook is he’s looking for headlines. He is looking for headlines. That’s what it’s all about at this point in time. Needs some wins. He loves making announcements on a regular basis of all these companies that are making investments in the United States or countries.

that are making investments in the United States. And I cautioned everybody here, again, you gotta believe what you wanna believe. They’re always talking about trillions of dollars. Trillions of dollars, but the checks in the mail, okay? Checks in the mail. Until I see things being actually built to completion, I don’t believe it. I don’t care if it’s a Democrat, I don’t care if it’s a Republican, I don’t believe any politician ever. Hey, you know what? It’s a pretty good way

to be successful in life when you’re dealing with politicians. Okay. Don’t believe. Don’t believe I don’t even go trust, but verify. don’t trust. Okay. I I’ve been, you know, talking about once a bit, twice shy, much worse than that. So anyway, we’ll see. We’ll see. I, I, we’ve talked about this not too long ago. You know, Trump’s Foxconn project there with Scott Walker in Wisconsin. That’s now a wedding hall. Yeah. Anyway.

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Okay, but he likes having these announcements. He likes putting it out on Truth Social. He thinks it’s gonna help his approval ratings. All he’s asking pretty much out of Tim Cook at this point in time is just making an announcement that you are planning on building a robotics factory here in the United States, a robotics factory that will eventually lead to making iPhones here in the United States. You don’t have to do it. You just gotta say it.

You just gotta say it. Honestly, that’s all that he’s looking for right now because let’s be honest people. We’re not gonna be mass producing iPhones in the United States. If we get to the point in time where we have to mass produce iPhones in the United States with human beings, boy boy, our economy’s really gonna be in the toilet. If we’re gonna have to do what they do in China and India and here in the United States,

means that man man we have fallen from grace. That’s just the reality. Okay? That’s the reality. Trump understands ratings, understands approvals, he you know at the television show, The Apprentice, he likes to have headlines and basically that’s what he’s asking out of Tim Cook and Apple right now. Just give me something. Give me something. Anyway, what else we got? we got Europe. Okay, here we go.

The European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of taking advantage of the United States on trade, has been very difficult to deal with. No, the European Union wasn’t designed, wasn’t put together to take advantage of the United States on trade. That’s just not true. Now, are they difficult to deal with? Yeah, that’s true. There’s no doubt about that that’s true. Anyway, there are powerful trade barriers that taxes

ridiculous corporate penalties, non-monetary trade barriers, monetary manipulations, unfair and unjustified lawsuits against American companies, and more, have led to a trade deficit with the United States of more than $250 billion a year, a number which is totally unacceptable. Our discussions with them are going nowhere. Therefore, I am recommending a straight 50. Again, this is interesting. Recommending. Recommending.

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a straight 50 % tariff on the European Union starting on June 1st. There is no tariff if the product is built or manufactured in the United States. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Okay, without a doubt, the Europeans are going to be difficult to deal with. I’ve gone off on their handling, especially of the American tech sector and the various different lawsuits that they throw at them because they’re quite frankly unable to come up with their own.

tech sector and build out their own tech sector. recommending putting this in there recommending it’s a bit of bluster. Quite frankly, and in my opinion, we’re gonna we’re gonna be doing trade with the European Union. are. This will come down off the ledge. If it’s a negotiating tactic. I don’t know. I don’t know if it’s gonna work or not. He most certainly is gonna have to follow through.

on June 1st, if that’s the case, and that could cause a real mess of things, quite frankly. So maybe he’s just trying to force the European Union’s hand on this one. But I think when push comes to shove, I don’t think that these tariffs are going on. Yeah, those are the two big tweets today. And it was funny to watch the markets after the tweet came out about whacking Apple and whacking the European Union.

straight down at that point time. I can’t who knows where they’re going to end up at the end of the day. One quick side note when it comes to this. These tweets are going to be they’re going to keep coming. They’re going keep coming. And again, I can’t trade them. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I know you can’t. I can’t trade them. You can’t trade them. So I don’t. I don’t. I just choose to own. I just choose to own high quality, choose to own high quality companies. Guess what? You are going to be just

The markets will take care of themselves. I’m not concerned about that. Our overall concern is always the strength of the United States economy, our fiscal situation moving forward. Do I think that these tariffs help? No, I do not. I don’t think they’re going to help. They keep touting these things as this great revenue thing. It’s nothing. It’s a tax on you, the consumer. We’ve discussed that here on the program. But the Apple situation is a bit spooky, if you ask me.

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If Barack Obama had said something like this, Republicans would have had an absolute kissy fit. They would have freaked out. Again, I’m freaking out about the way that the Obama administration was telling auto companies what they had to do and various different other rules and regulations. I said that this is ridiculous. You’re usurping the power of the presidency. You’re acting like a dictator. But again, that’s just very similar to what it’s like. You’re telling a company, hey, guess what?

You gotta move your entire supply chain here to the United States. Yeah, good luck with that. Watchdog on wallstreet.com.