Apple in November asked the U.S. government to exclude the Apple Watch, AirPods, HomePod, and iPhone components from tariffs on goods imported from China, and the Apple Watch has been exempted.
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According to Bloomberg, the U.S. Trade Representative on Friday approved a tariff waiver for Apple's wrist worn device.
A 15 percent tariff on a long list of products imported from China went into effect on September 1, though it was halved on February 15 after an initial trade deal was established.
Apple said that the Apple Watch should be exempted because it is "it is not strategically important or related to 'Made in China 2025' or other Chinese industrial programs." Apple also claimed that it was not able to find a source outside of China to meet demand for Apple Watch production in 2020.
Apple has also filed for waivers for AirPods, HomePod, iPhone components, and other products impacted by the tariffs.
Apple CEO Tim Cook in October said that he was hopeful the U.S. and China would resolve their trade issues. "I don't know every chapter of the book, but I think that will eventually happen," Cook said. "I certainly hope it happens during the quarter, but we'll see about that."
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Meanwhile, the 500 million N95 respirators on order are expected to take 18 months. Manufacturers in China aren’t able to fulfill the request due to face saving procurement requirements.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-19/trump-s-500-million-respirators-could-take-18-months-to-deliver
Apple’s existence completely depends on China in its current form, including all of the ‘unsightly’ malfeasance perpetrated by the CCP (slave labor, etc…) This is the dirty little secret that no one wants to accept. So while other business have been able to decouple from China, this will not be the case for Apple (and a few other very large/influential companies). This has created a dilemma for the US government. Will the US government allow the CCP to continue wrecking the USA just so Apple can prop up the US stock market? Or will the US government do its job to protect the country? The choice should be obvious, but there is too much money to be made by those in power, especially those like Tim Cook who admire how the CCP organizes Chinese society (and would welcome that in the USA).