Apple “needs to return to year-over-year financial growth after a disappointing 2016. Last year, revenue fell for the first time since 2001, and Apple missed some of its own internal sales goals,” Andrew Cunningham writes for Ars Technica. “Ordinarily, Apple’s success hinges mostly on the products it announced and those products’ quality. But 2017 has a new and unforeseen variable: President-elect Donald J. Trump.”
“Apple was a frequent target of Trump’s criticism on the campaign trail,” Cunningham writes. “As one of America’s biggest companies, Apple will continue to find itself singled out by Trump. Apple provides a good case study for the ways in which Trump’s stated economic and trade policies could benefit and damage large, multinational tech companies. Those policies combine typical Republican orthodoxy about low corporate tax rates with Trump’s bellicose proclamations about import tariffs. Depending on the way things break, Trump’s policies are going to be a double-edged sword for Apple and any company that relies heavily on overseas manufacturing and the global economy.”
“In a conversation with New York Times editors and reporters in the days following the election, Trump claimed to have spoken to Apple CEO Tim Cook about building “a big plant in the United States” and about cutting taxes and regulations that would currently keep Apple from doing so (though he didn’t name any regulations in particular),” Cunningham writes. “Whether Apple will move any significant portion of its manufacturing operations to the United States depends on the specific tax and regulatory benefits a Trump administration can deliver.”
“There are a few areas where Apple’s bottom line stands to benefit from Trump and the Republicans’ stated policies, particularly when it comes to domestic tax rates and repatriation taxes,” Cunningham writes. “But Apple could also lose a lot during Trump’s presidency, particularly if Trump follows through on many of his economic or foreign policy promises.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote back in September:
Let’s not do another “one-time-only” (smirk) repatriation holiday. Let’s fix the broken U.S. corporate tax code instead. Let us eschew the easy way out, that fixes nothing in the long run, and choose to do the hard work instead.
MacDailyNews Note: Today is Martin Luther King Day in the U.S. and the markets are closed. As usual on such trading holidays, we will have limited posting today.
SEE ALSO:
President-elect Trump’s corporate tax reform expected to have some positive impact on Apple EPS – January 14, 2017
Foxconn-Sharp considering LCD plant in USA, plans in response to President-elect Trump’s ‘Make in America’ call – January 13, 2017
Apple invests $1 billion in SoftBank’s massive tech fund; may help company get in President Trump’s good graces – January 4, 2017
President-elect Trump meets privately with Apple CEO Cook, tells tech leaders: ‘I’m here to help you folks do well’ – December 14, 2016
Apple may repatriate billions of dollars next year after new U.S. President takes office – September 1, 2016
With next U.S. President, Apple’s cash may soon be on its way home – August 25, 2016
Apple CEO Tim Cook presses for U.S. corporate tax reform, says no repatriation without fair rate – August 15, 2016
Donald Trump plan calls for cuts in corporate taxes, personal income tax rates – August 9, 2016
Apple CEO Tim Cook has billions of reasons to raise money for the GOP – June 29, 2016
Debt-free Apple to take on debt to avoid huge U.S. repatriation tax hit – April 26, 2013