nubus

Mike Wuerthele said:

MagicApple said:

'Designed by Apple in California assembled in the European Union' 

Maybe, but the EU has similar issues that manufacturing the US has. 

EU has one thing that US is no longer is able to offer: Political stability supporting long term investments backed up by a strong legal framework. One might not like EU, but it is extremely predictable (took 15 years from Apple agreed to a common charger to delivery of USB-C). 

Predictable is not something Trump is capable of.

From 2027 smartphones and laptops sold in the EU must offer a user replaceable battery. That is why we're seeing rumors regarding redesigns of mouse, MBP M6, iPads, and iPhone 18 having a new design. Apple changed iPhone completely with 12 (new design) and 14 (entirely new construction for non-Pro). Redesigns could happen with both 18 and 20.

9secondkox2 said:

It’s only logical right? Heck, back in 1995, nancy pelosi of all people was saying the exact same stuff trump is saying about the need for tariffs since we are being tariffed to death by everyone else. (I posted the video a few posts back) It’s necessary in order to level the playing field. The only thing trump is doing wrong is not being on the democrat side.

Your trade deficit with the EU is 3% which would have been a surplus if Boeing had shipped on time. And yet you're going to war.
Agriculture is less than 5% of your exports. Oil is 7-8%. Arms: 10%. Services: 33%. You should be worried about your main exports and let peanuts be peanuts.

On arms sourcing is changing. "It turns out that abandoning allies and tossing out security guarantees is bad for business.". There won't be any tariffs. We're simply changing our buying patterns. Services however will be directly hit by tariffs from EU.

China placing a 34% tariff takes care of the rest. It will take years before US can manufacture what China is doing. You will pay 34% extra at home causing inflation. And your exports will fail due to their tariff making it easier for Brazil and EU to get your export customers. When finally you start manufacturing it will be more expensive (unless those $3/hour wages are attractive) and your export customers will no longer be yours. How will that make you great?

Both parties will have to offer more compelling candidates if they want mainstream America to vote for non-Trump policies. We can't blame Trump for being Trump.

tht said:

nubus said:

TSMC + Intel stand to control 100% of desktop chips and 70% of everything else. It is the end to all competition. 
Handing over keys to US manufacturing while turning off US R&D is unexpected. Doing so to a company from an area that US sees as part of China is even more so.
We need for Intel to be American and deliver future innovation from outside China.

You've got it backwards.

Intel needs TSMC in order to be competitive. That's the only reason I can think of for Intel wanting this deal. Why TSMC would want it? I don't really know. There really aren't any benefits for them. Other than perhaps to diversify their fab capacity to mitigate anti-globalist governments.

TSMC will only let manufacturing happen in the US and at least one generation behind. R&D isn't part of it. This deal is giving the keys to China.

Citi expects a 9%-point negative impact on total gross margins for Apple. That is a direct 19% reduction which should be seen in stock price.

The second hit is on revenue. With everything being more expensive, jobs being lost, and stocks dropping there will be less for discretionary spending.
The full impact of the 2007-2009 Great Recession took 2 years to peak. A further 9 years for unemployment levels to come back down.
This isn't visible today but could hurt Apple for years. The stock isn't priced for this.

And finally we have the rest of the world. The Tesla boycott is obvious. With Trump naming Taiwan as a country it will be less socially acceptable in China to buy U.S. products. Apple should be able to do OK outside China as there are no strong non-U,S, alternatives. They will however have less to spend.