Fallout from tariffs could see iPhone prices soar. C7

Apple: How much could iPhones and other products prices go up?

Could we see soon see higher prices for the Apple Watch, AirPods and other Apple products? What about the iPhone?

Apple, whose products are already priced at a premium, could raise its prices even higher if the Trump administration makes good on its threat amid a trade war with China and imposes a third round of tariffs on goods imported from that nation.

President Donald Trump is proposing 10 percent to 25 percent tariffs on certain imported goods — the Apple Watch, AirPods, Mac minis, Apple chargers and

adapters would fall under those categories.

When Apple submitted objections to the proposed tariffs before the U.S. Trade Representative’s comment deadline last week, saying they would likely raise prices for American consumers, Trump tweeted that the company should make its products in the United States to avoid the tariffs.

If Apple were to do that, a Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst estimates

that the company would have to raise the prices of iPhones — which are not on the tariff list — up to 20 percent.

Analyst Wamsi Mohan told clients in a note seen by CNBC Monday that “We believe Apple could ask Hon Hai and Pegatron to shift a small portion of their iPhone manufacturing to the US in response to President Trump’s request.”

Mohan — who said U.S. workers earn 2.6 times more than Chinese workers — presented the following scenarios: If Apple moves 10 percent of iPhone assembly to the United States from China, iPhone prices

would rise 8 percent. If the company moves 50 percent or 100 percent of iPhone assembly here, it would raise iPhone prices 14 percent and 20 percent, respectively.

The USTR has not returned a request for comment about when it expects to make a decision on this third round of tariffs, which would be worth $200 billion. Other tech companies, including Intel, have warned that the tariffs could raise the prices on most consumer electronics and on the infrastructure of the internet.

ANDY WONG — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Bottles of Cherry Coca-Cola with portraits of Warren Buffett are stacked near a dispatch rider’s bike in Beijing. China has promised to retaliate if President Donald Trump escalates the tariff battle.

RICHARD DREW — ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES Apple says that if it brings its cellphone production back to the U.S., the price of an iPhone X would increase $200.