Further proving that the markets are connected, the price of beer, cars, and Macs could increase should a steel and aluminum tariff proposed by the Trump Administration pass. While the White House has yet to say if the tariffs will be on the amount of metal in a product or the overall value of the imported item, it’s unclear how much more your next Mac, iPhone, or iPad will cost.
Mr. Trump on Thursday stated that he plans to impose a 25% tariff on imported steel and a 10% tariff on imported aluminum as early as this week. The policy is still in the works and Trump said it’s “being written now.” He implied the policy will be in place indefinitely when he told domestic steel and aluminum manufacturers, “you’ll have protection for a long time in a while.”
The notion that the tariffs will help boost the U.S. economy as well as preserve jobs is still up in the air. Even House Speaker Paul Ryan, who typically sides with Trump, has urged the White House to “consider the unintended consequences of this idea and look at other approaches before moving forward.”
Other industries have also pushed back on the idea of the tariffs.
In the case of Anheuser-Busch InBev, CFO Felipe Dutra offered the following sentiment:
“About 2 million jobs depend on America’s beer industry. We urge the Department of Commerce and U.S. President Trump to consider the impact of trade restriction tariffs.”
In Apple’s case, the cost to bring Macs, iPhone, and iPads manufactured outside the U.S. into the country could go up by a couple dollars, or it could be more, especially if it’s calculated on the price of the product.
Loup Ventures analyst Gene Munster told Bloomberg he thinks Apple’s per-device costs will increase by 0.2%, assuming the tariffs are imposed on raw materials.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via The Mac Observer, CNN and Bloomberg