“Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump made headlines this week with a protectionist proposal that included a vow to force Apple ‘to build their damn computers and things in this country’ if he’s elected,” Sam Oliver writes for AppleInsider.
“Trump’s campaign promise is based in part on the imposition of a 35 percent tariff on products manufactured overseas,” Oliver writes. “This would, he believes, give companies a significant economic incentive to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.”
MacDailyNews Take: Actually, it’s unclear if Trump would impose a 35% tariff. Here’s the transcript of Trump’s comments at Liberty University on January 18th:
Ford has been great and wonderful. So, what are they building in Mexico for? Why do we want the building in Mexico? They’re going to build — remember this, cars, trucks, and parts, they’re going to sell them across the border — no tax. So you say, we’re all smart people. How does that help us? We close plants and we open new plants in Mexico and there’s no tax. So they’re going to say, no, no, no, we’re going for it. I’ll say here’s the story, if you go forward, that’s fine. But for every car, truck, and whatever else you’re building, you are going to pay a 35 percent tax every time it crosses the border. We have to or we’re not going to have a country left — everyone is ripping us. Everyone is ripping us.
Now, I don’t want to do that because I’m a free trader, I want free trade. But we’ve got to be sort of like smart here, folks, because we’ve lost seven, eight and some people say ten million jobs. We’ve lost 50,000 manufacturing plants. We’re getting killed and the quality our jobs is terrible, you saw that in the last report. They have this phony number, 5.2 percent — everybody that quits looking for a job is considered statistically a person that has a job. It’s a phony number. You’ve probably real numbers like 22, 23 percent.
So, does he want a 35% import tariff or is he a “free trader?”
Oliver writes, “Nonetheless, the president does have the power to impose protectionist tariffs, so let’s see how Apple could handle it.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
SEE ALSO:
Why Donald Trump is now targeting Apple and their ‘damn computers’ – January 19, 2016
Trump could cost U.S. consumers $6 billion per year by imposing a 35% tariff on Apple iPhone – January 19, 2016
Trump: We’ll get Apple to manufacture ‘their damn computers and things’ in the U.S.A. – January 18, 2016
Robots, not people, led Apple to make new Mac Pro in the U.S.A. – January 21, 2014
Former Reagan staffer: Apple has an obligation to help solve America’s problems – April 3, 2012