Report: Apple Airlifted Premium Devices to US to Beat Tariff Deadline

Apple urgently requested suppliers to ship as many premium devices as possible to the United States by air freight, especially those priced above $3,000, in response to President Donald Trump's announcement of "reciprocal" tariffs of up to 104% on trading partners (via Nikkei).

cargo plane
Apple, along with Dell, Microsoft, and Lenovo, reportedly scrambled to mitigate the impact of the tariffs by accelerating shipments before April 9, the day the tariffs came into effect.

"We got a call from clients to make as many consumer electronics as possible and to ship as many of them by air as possible," said an executive at a supplier to Apple, Microsoft, and Google. "But the biggest challenge is that we don't have so many components and materials in stock."

The last-minute rush has created logistical challenges, with suppliers struggling to fulfill orders due to component shortages and tight shipping deadlines. All customs clearances had to be completed before midnight on April 8, U.S. time, creating what one international air shipping manager described as "a race against the clock."

The action comes as Chinese exports on Wednesday faced their biggest U.S. tariff of 104%. This is a combination of 20% levied earlier, 34% announced last week, and 50% imposed by Trump hours earlier following Beijing's refusal to withdraw a retaliatory tariff on U.S. goods.

Apple has been evaluating various strategies to minimize the impact of Trump's tariffs. The company has been diversifying its manufacturing base for years, with India becoming an increasingly important production hub.

A recent report suggests Apple plans to source more iPhones for the U.S. market from India, where tariffs are set at 26% compared to the 104% tariff on goods from China. The company expects to produce approximately 25 million iPhones in India this year, potentially meeting around 50% of U.S. iPhone demand in 2025.

The tariff situation has already had a substantial impact on Apple's stock, which has fallen nearly 23% since last Wednesday, as investors worry about the potential effects on the company's profits and global supply chain.

Apple CEO Tim Cook successfully secured exemptions for Apple devices during Trump's first term, but he faces bigger challenges this time around. The company now appears to be pursuing a dual strategy of short-term logistics adjustments while seeking longer-term political solutions.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tag: Nikkei

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Top Rated Comments

Quu Avatar
7 months ago

Its like Trump is angry , wants to hurt USA or he is not that business man who many believed
He bankrupted casinos.. casinos!
Score: 49 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SBlue1 Avatar
7 months ago
And this is why mass production of electronics in the US or Europe isn’t a viable option. In China, they can scale up production within days. A German CEO once put it perfectly when describing why China’s manufacturing hubs are unrivaled:

“You want to alter your design and change a screw from this size to that? They’ve got you covered in a day. Need an extra five million screws? The supplier is just down the road. Need ten million springs to update your product? They’ll find a supplier and deliver them within two days.”

This simply isn’t possible in Europe. It’s hard to imagine how well-trained the workforce is, how eager they are to fulfill orders, how close everything is, and how big and fast they can scale—almost instantly. That’s also the reason why production is so cheap: speed, scale, and proximity drive costs down in a way that’s nearly impossible to replicate elsewhere.
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MayaUser Avatar
7 months ago
Its like Trump is angry , wants to hurt USA or he is not that business man who many believed
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MayaUser Avatar
7 months ago

He bankrupted casinos.. casinos!
and not just that
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ItsASpider Avatar
7 months ago

Don't tell the environmentalists that China creates 30% of the CO2 emissions contributing to global warming.
But when you do, do tell them that China is producing massive amounts of products for the rest of the world which essentially moves these country's CO2 emissions into China, as well as for its own massive population and that meanwhile, the US is responsible for 12% of CO2 emissions, despite having a population less then a quarter of the size of China and does not come even close to the amount China has to produce for the rest of the world, all while also pretending that CO2 emissions are not a problem and is actively working to use more coal, meanwhile China is actively working to move its energy sources to renewables.

...which I guess is a bit less convenient for that narrative.

(It also ignores that, while China is a big emitter now, historically, it hasn't caught up to the emissions the US has pushing out. China is responsible for 13% of total emissions in history, the US for 25%.)
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JPack Avatar
7 months ago

Everyone seems to forget that the whole point of instituting tariffs is that they're RECIPROCOL.

The goal is to get everyone to say, "hey let's just do 0% and let free trade work"
Nobody forgot. The tariff formula defined by the current regime says it’s not. They said it was based on trade deficits. And you literally have countries like Australia which always had 0% who now end up with 10% “reciprocal.”
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)