New Delhi: After Apple, its rival Samsung is facing US President Donald Trump’s tariff threat. He has warned that the South Korean company would also face a 25% import tax if its phones were not manufactured in America.
He said this while briefing reporters in the White House. Trump said the tariff would apply to any phone manufacturer selling devices in the US.
“It would be more. It would also be Samsung and anybody that makes that product. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be fair…when they build their plant here, there is no tariff,” Trump said.
Earlier, he had stepped up the pressure on Apple to build its iPhones in the country.
“I have long ago informed Apple CEO Tim Cook that I expect the iPhones that will be sold in the United States of America to be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else. If that is not the case, a tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the US,” Trump had said in a post on Truth Social.
After Trump’s announcement, Apple’s shares fell 2.6%, wiping out approximately USD 70 billion.
Last week, Trump was unhappy with Apple as it chose to manufacture iPhones to be sold in the US at plants in India.
According to analysts, around 90% of Apple’s smartphones are assembled in China. However, amid the US’s trade war with China, Cook said earlier this month that the majority of iPhones sold in the US for the June quarter would “have India as their country of origin”, CNN had reported.
However, Samsung doesn’t rely on China for smartphone manufacturing. Most of its operations take place in India, South Korea, Vietnam, and Brazil.
Back in 2019, Samsung had closed its last phone manufacturing factory in China.