Trump tweets: Apple can avoid tariffs by moving jobs to the U.S.

On Friday, we told you that several Apple products are on the list of Chinese imports that tariffs will soon be imposed on, barring any last second truce in the trade war between the U.S. and China. The Apple devices listed include the Apple Watch, HomePod, AirPods and Apple Pencil. In addition, certain plugs and cables for Apple devices are among the next $200 billion in goods imported from China that will be affected.

A tweet posted today by President Trump suggests that if Apple wants to prevent its products from being hit with an import tax, it should make its products in the U.S. If Apple does that, Trump says that there "would be ZERO tax, and indeed a tax incentive." The president has met several times with Apple CEO Tim Cook, and in July 2017 Trump said that the Apple CEO promised that the company was going to build three new factories in the U.S. The president said that he wanted at least one of them to be the largest factory ever, "even if it’s only a foot bigger than some place in China."

Whether Trump was mistaken or made that up out of thin air, we don't know. To date, Apple has not announced any plans to build any new factories in the U.S. While Apple products are designed in the U.S., they are usually manufactured in China and shipped to the states.

source: @realDonaldTrump