Trump feuds with Apple, threatens tariffs on France
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump tweeted Friday his administration would deny a request by electronics giant Apple to avoid stiff tariffs the United States had placed on Chinese imports and threatened to hit France with heavy tariffs in response to a new digital tax that will affect U.S. tech companies.
The comments show the extent to which the president is wielding tariffs to punish not only trading partners but also U.S. companies that manufacture products overseas.
Trump tweeted that Apple “will not be given Tariff waiver, or relief, for Mac Pro parts that are made in China” and that the company should “Make them in the USA, no Tariffs!”
Last week, Apple filed 15 requests with the U.S. trade representative to exclude certain products it imports from China from the tariffs. The requests covered a variety of imported components used in the Mac Pro desktop, a high-end computer that sells for around $6,000. In the requests, the company asserts it cannot acquire the products in the United States or other countries outside China.
Trump threatened to punish France with tariffs Friday, in return for a new digital tax President Emmanuel Macron of France signed into law Thursday. That provision falls heavily on U.S. technology firms like Facebook, Google and Amazon.
The Trump administration announced this month it had started an investigation into whether the French measure, which places a 3 percent tax on the revenue some companies earn from providing digital services to French users, amounts to an unfair trade practice.
If the president taxes French wine, he may face accusations of a conflict of interest. The president’s son Eric Trump oversees the Trump Winery outside Charlottesville, Va., and business entities associated with the winery were included in Trump’s 2015 financial disclosure form.
Trump’s declaration that Apple’s exemption request would be denied also runs afoul of the U.S. trade representative’s posted rules for exclusions from the Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports.
Guidelines allow 14 days after a request is posted online for anyone to submit comments in support or opposition of the request, and then give the original requester another seven days to respond. Apple’s requests were posted July 18.