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China's economy isn't the problem, says Trump's Commerce Secretary about Apple

By Joshua Swingle

Published: Jan 07, 2019, 11:47 AM

China's economy isn't the problem, says Trump's Commerce Secretary about Apple

Apple iPhone X, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max

Last week, Tim Cook partly blamed Apple's weak iPhone sales on the growing tensions between the US and China. But speaking with CNBC today, President Trump’s Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross, has claimed that this isn’t the case.

While Ross did admit that the ongoing trade talks between the two countries have undeniably affected China’s economy negatively, he appears to believe Apple hasn't been hit that hard by the situation.

Back in November, President Trump threatened to impose either a 10% or 25% tariff on mobile phone imports from China, Apple’s iPhone included. But as the Secretary of Commerce pointed out, this is yet to happen. In fact, no tariffs have been put on any of Apple’s products so far.

Ross didn’t directly confirm his personal thoughts on the matter, but he did seem to suggest Apple’s weak performance is down to other factors. One of these could be the company’s pricing strategy. After all, over the past couple of years, the Cupertino giant has significantly raised prices.

In developed markets such as the US and Europe, this new pricing strategy hasn’t affected sales drastically. But in countries such as China and India, justifying the price of an iPhone is much harder when equally as good Android devices are available to purchase at lower prices.

. @SecretaryRoss on $AAPL warning: "I don't think Apple's earnings miss had anything to do with the present trade talks" pic.twitter.com/bFqjkTnyUC
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) January 7, 2019