Trump’s Plan to Tax Apple Into Building iPhones in the U.S. Might Be the Most Expensive Flex Ever

If there’s one thing we’ve learned about Donald J. Trump (besides his new affinity for crypto and telling people they’re fired) it’s this: When the man makes a threat, he means it. Even if it makes no economic sense. Even if it involves going toe-to-toe with Tim Cook and the richest publicly traded company in the history of capitalism. Even if it might lead to the $3,500 iPhone. And now, Trump has locked eyes on Apple. Again.

“I treated you very good, Tim…” That’s what Trump told reporters last week after meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook. He sounded like a disappointed dad who found out his son went to community college instead of Yale. “You’re coming in with $500 billion… but now I hear you’re building all over India. I don’t want you building in India,” he said. And by “don’t want,” he meant: build iPhones in America or pay a 25% tariff.

Remember, this is the same man who once exempted Apple from China tariffs back in 2019 is now threatening to hit Timmy with a massive import tax unless those little iPhones start rolling off an assembly line in Ohio or West Virginia. But here’s the problem: this isn’t about Apple being stubborn. This is about reality. And reality doesn’t bend just because Trump’s mad at a supply chain map.

Right now, about 80 to 90 percent of iPhones are made in China. Apple has started shifting a big chunk of that production to India, where labor is cheaper and the government is less likely to wake up and punish your business with surprise sanctions. The goal is to have India supply most of the iPhones sold in the U.S. by the end of 2026. Trump? He saw that and fired off a Truth Social post like a warning shot: “A Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the U.S.” But moving the supply chain to the U.S. is far more than a “load the truck and hit the gas” situation. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives even went on the record saying: “You build that supply chain in West Virginia and New Jersey, they’ll be $3,500 iPhones.”

Tim Cook himself has said America doesn’t have the industrial engineer base to pull it off. We’d need 30,000 trained engineers just to support on-site workers… and that talent pool simply doesn’t exist stateside. (Not unless we clone every STEM grad from MIT.) And even if you could find the people, you’d still be paying them 5x what Apple pays in India or China.

And keep in mind: Apple’s already facing an estimated $900 million in added costs this quarter from current tariffs. Add another 25%, and we’re getting into "Tim Cook throws his phone into the ocean" territory. Trump’s play here is part economics, part nationalism, and part campaign stunt. He wants to flex hard on trade, show he’s not afraid to check Silicon Valley, and paint himself as the blue-collar job savior … even if the companies he's targeting have already said “those jobs aren’t coming back.”

Ironically, Apple is spending $500 billion in the U.S. over the next few years, including AI infrastructure in Houston. But that’s not enough if the phones aren’t physically assembled in Akron. To Trump, iPhones built in India = betrayal. Never mind that reshoring would either blow up Apple’s margins or make iPhones so expensive we’d all go back to droids. So, will Trump follow through? History says… probably. At least for a few weeks. Then maybe he’ll “negotiate” a deal where Apple gets a pass and Trump gets to claim victory.

PS: It’s a mess out there.

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We’re seeing violent price action. Especially in the small-cap space, where low floats and high anxiety are creating the perfect recipe for 100%+ pops before lunchtime. Some of these names are moving 200%+ in under 24 hours… and to our knowledge, NO ONE else is covering them.

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Stock.News has positions in Apple.