US President Trump clarified on Friday at the White House that aside from his plans to impose tariffs on Apple’s iPhones, he will also levy tariffs on manufacturers producing smartphones abroad, including Samsung.
Trump, speaking in the Oval Office of the White House, responded to journalists’ questions by stating that it’s not just about Apple, there’s more to it. “Samsung and any company that manufactures this product (referring to smartphones) will also have to pay tariffs. Otherwise, it’s not fair. So, any company producing this product, I guess, will see tariffs by the end of June.”
“When they build the factories here, they won’t face tariffs,” Trump said.
The president also expressed his belief that businesses can relocate their factories to the US because “many factories have already been computerized.”
Earlier on Friday morning, Trump expressed his dissatisfaction with Apple on his social media platform, Truth Social. He mentioned, “I told Apple’s Tim Cook a long time ago that I want the iPhones sold in the US to be manufactured and produced in the US, not in India or anywhere else.”
“If not, Apple must pay at least a 25% tariff to the US,” the president stated.
During his time at the White House on Friday, Trump revealed that Apple CEO Cook said, “He will set up a factory in India. I said, ‘You can go to India, but you cannot sell here without tariffs.'”
In recent years, Apple has been committed to diversifying its manufacturing capabilities by shifting some iPhone production from China to India.
In contrast to Apple, Samsung does not heavily rely on China for smartphone production. This South Korean tech giant closed its last smartphone factory in China in 2019 after losing market share to domestic competitors in China. An insider at Samsung previously informed CNN that the majority of their smartphone manufacturing takes place in South Korea, Vietnam, India, and Brazil.