iPhone Remains Unaffected As Tariffs On Chinese Imports Kick In, China Retaliates With Additional Tariffs On US Imports

The infamous Chinese tariffs have kicked in with products imported to the United States from the country being hit. It just so happens that a ton of technology is produced in China and JP Morgan believes that Americans may be left as much as $1,000 out of pocket as a result. It’s not just technology that is impacted, either.

With China also seeking to retaliate with tariffs on United States, produce farmers could also see their income will be impacted.

$75 billion of US-based goods are imported by China and new tariffs could see that fall. In fact, Bloomberg notes that China is the world’s biggest car market and with German brands building their cars in the United States, exports to China could be impacted.

BMW and Daimler ship large numbers of sport utility vehicles from plants in South Carolina and Alabama to China, while Tesla doesn’t yet make its electric cars in the country. Six of the top 10 vehicles exported from the U.S. to the world’s biggest car market are from the two German brands, according to forecaster LMC Automotive.

As for Apple, tariffs are now live on a number of its products including some Macs, Apple Watch, AirPods and other wireless headphones, and HomePod.

A further collection of devices will see a 15% tariff come into play on December 15th including the hugely popular and money-spinning iPhone. Other devices include the iPad, portable Macs, Apple TV, keyboards, wires headphones, and Apple Pro Display XDR. The iPod touch will also be part of this list, although we don’t imagine too many of those are sold each year.

The good news, in the short term at least, is that Apple is expected to absorb the tariffs according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Kuo writes that Apple has likely made ‘proper preparations’ for such a tariff, and he predicts that Apple will ‘absorb most of the additional costs’ in the mid-short term. Thus, Kuo believes that ‘prices of hardware products and shipment forecasts for the U.S. market will remain unchanged’ despite the tariff.

That isn’t great news if you’re an Apple shareholder, of course.

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