With a trade agreement between the US and China seemingly not being on the cards any time soon, Apple’s stock price notched up its biggest losses in nearly four months yesterday.
This came after President Donald Trump hinted that he was in no particular hurry to sign such an agreement with China.
He might, he added, even decide to wait until next year before he signs.
Apple’s stock price plunged by nearly 3% on Tuesday, making it the third consecutive day of losses.
At this stage, it doesn’t seem as if Apple is benefiting much from Apple CEO Tim Cook’s close ties with Trump.
Addressing the media yesterday, the latter said that there was no deadline to sign a trade agreement with China, and that he would only sign a “good deal”.
In typical Trump-speak, he went on to say: ‘‘It can’t be an even deal. If it’s an even deal, it’s no good. I don’t watch the stock market.’’
Except, of course, for his regular victory tweets when the stock market reaches new highs.
Apart from Trump’s remarks in London, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross earlier stated that the US government was in fact considering hitting China with new tariffs if the situation doesn’t improve within the next two weeks.
A new round of tariffs will put Apple in a precarious position.
Although the firm has filed an application for tariff exclusions, it remains uncertain whether it will be approved.
The 15th December tariffs are going to impact a broad selection of consumer electronics, including smartphones.
Apple’s iPhone and a number of its other products will be negatively affected.
Cook has warned in the past that tariffs would negatively impact the company’s ability to compete with manufacturers such as Samsung.
While Trump has called this argument “compelling”, one should not jump to the conclusion that he will approve Apple’s application.