Latest news with #MadeInUSA
Phone Arena
23-05-2025
- Business
- Phone Arena
Apple's plan to build iPhones in India ticks off Trump who posts a threat on social media
President Donald Trump really wants to see a "Made in USA" label on the iPhone. Trump this morning wrote a post on his Truth Social platform that threatened Apple and American iPhone buyers with a 25% or higher tariff. The import tax would be imposed on all iPhone units shipped to the U.S. that were not manufactured in the States. The president is obviously aware of what Apple has been doing in order to skirt around the tariffs imposed on Chinese exports to the U.S. which include the iPhone and other Apple devices assembled in China. Earlier this month during Apple's quarterly earnings call, CEO Tim Cook told Wall Street analysts and the media that "the majority of iPhones sold in the US will have India as their country of origin." Currently, tariffs on electronic items including smartphones have been suspended. A 10% tariff is still being charged on most products being imported into the U.S. Tariffs on China, which were as high as 145% this month, have been reduced to 30%. In his post, Trump specifically mentions that a "tariff of at least 25%" be charged on iPhone units sent to the United States except for specific phones that are "built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else." The president, who has had a friendly relationship with Tim Cook , has indeed spoken to him in the past about moving iPhone manufacturing to the U.S. But what Trump might not understand is that Americans are not going to be eager to take low-paying jobs on an assembly line. That doesn't even take into consideration whether building a supply chain for U.S. iPhone production is feasible. President Trump threatens imposing a 25% or higher tariff on iPhone units not made in America. | Image credit-Truth Social Trump, who is usually astute at marketing himself, could be making a big public relations mistake here. No matter how you slice it, forcing Apple to build its most important product in the U.S. is going to lead to higher prices. If Apple does cave to Trump, the additional costs of maintaining production facilities in the U.S. and obtaining supplies will rise forcing iPhone prices to rise. If Apple decides to keep production out of the U.S., the 25% higher tariff imposed will also lead to sticker shock for iPhone buyers. Either way, the president is setting himself up to be the person that Americans will blame for higher iPhone prices. The device remains popular in the States where it is the top selling smartphone. Moving iPhone production to the States has been an itch that Trump keeps scratching. In Qatar last week during his trip to the Middle East, the president said, "I had a little problem with Tim Cook . I said to him, 'Tim, you're my friend. I treated you very good. You're coming in with $500 billion.' But now I hear you're building all over India. I don't want you building in India." No matter what Apple decides to do, there will be no winners in this battle. There is nothing inherently wrong for an American president to ask an American company to move production of a particular product to America. Hell, Trump isn't the first POTUS to request this of Apple. But like President Obama before him, Trump needs to understand the likely ramifications of his demand.
Washington Post
13-05-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
The bright spot of Trump's trade war is in a Pennsylvania factory
In today's edition: These days, a glossy 'Made in the USA' sticker or garment label is a rare find, but columnist Heather Long has uncovered a hidden gem in a Pennsylvania furniture maker, where everything is, indeed, made right here in America. Really, the factory is smack-dab in the eye of President Donald Trump's storm of global tariffs — and is sunbathing in all its domestically produced glory.
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A business owner tested if customers would pay more for American-made. The results were 'sobering.'
Afina founder Ramon van Meer wanted to see if people would buy a Made-in-USA version of his specialty shower head. He found it would cost three times as much to produce — and raised the sale price by 85%. After several days of testing, a total of zero customers bought the USA model. As a small business owner, Ramon van Meer said he's used to hearing people say they'd be willing to pay more for products made in America. When President Donald Trump ratcheted up tariffs on Chinese imports by an additional 145%, van Meer decided to see if shoppers would put their money where their mouth is. "I wanted to know the answer and then use it for my own company," the Afina founder told Business Insider. So the serial entrepreneur set about finding US suppliers to make his best-selling product: a specialized filtered shower head. Van Meer said his filters are made in the US, some additional materials are sourced in Vietnam, and the final product is made in China with a single supplier. To move everything over to the US, he said he had to find four to six separate suppliers who would handle various aspects of the production process. All told, he found it would cost three times as much to produce — more than the cost of simply paying the tariff. Armed with real numbers, he set out to do a test with two identical products, with the only difference being their origin and, critically, their price: visitors to Afina's website were presented with the option of a Chinese-made item for $129 or a US-made version for $239. "I'm big on just testing it out with real data and real purchases," van Meer said. "Not asking customers, not a survey, not even add-to-carts." "When somebody has to pay for it, that's the actual real data," he added. After several days and more than 25,000 visitors, he said he sold 584 of the lower-priced shower heads and not one single purchase of a US-made version. In a blog post that went viral, van Meer called the results "sobering." "We wanted to believe customers would back American labor with their dollars. But when faced with a real decision — not a survey or a comment section — they didn't," he wrote. Nowadays van Meer said he's spending most of his time trying to shift production out of China to a country with a lower tariff rate. "Staying in China is not sustainable because even if they make a deal, we don't know what's going to happen," he said. "The United States is also not an option, because there's just no facilities that can make it." Van Meer said Afina currently has enough inventory in its US warehouses to last until August, at which point he would have to start charging for the tariff. Asked whether he would roll that cost into the price or apply a surcharge, as other businesses have said they would do, van Meer said he hadn't yet decided. "We'll probably do testing," he said. Read the original article on Business Insider Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A business owner tested if customers would pay more for American-made. The results were 'sobering.'
Afina founder Ramon van Meer wanted to see if people would buy a Made-in-USA version of his specialty shower head. He found it would cost three times as much to produce — and raised the sale price by 85%. After several days of testing, a total of zero customers bought the USA model. As a small business owner, Ramon van Meer said he's used to hearing people say they'd be willing to pay more for products made in America. When President Donald Trump ratcheted up tariffs on Chinese imports by an additional 145%, van Meer decided to see if shoppers would put their money where their mouth is. "I wanted to know the answer and then use it for my own company," the Afina founder told Business Insider. So the serial entrepreneur set about finding US suppliers to make his best-selling product: a specialized filtered shower head. Van Meer said his filters are made in the US, some additional materials are sourced in Vietnam, and the final product is made in China with a single supplier. To move everything over to the US, he said he had to find four to six separate suppliers who would handle various aspects of the production process. All told, he found it would cost three times as much to produce — more than the cost of simply paying the tariff. Armed with real numbers, he set out to do a test with two identical products, with the only difference being their origin and, critically, their price: visitors to Afina's website were presented with the option of a Chinese-made item for $129 or a US-made version for $239. "I'm big on just testing it out with real data and real purchases," van Meer said. "Not asking customers, not a survey, not even add-to-carts." "When somebody has to pay for it, that's the actual real data," he added. After several days and more than 25,000 visitors, he said he sold 584 of the lower-priced shower heads and not one single purchase of a US-made version. In a blog post that went viral, van Meer called the results "sobering." "We wanted to believe customers would back American labor with their dollars. But when faced with a real decision — not a survey or a comment section — they didn't," he wrote. Nowadays van Meer said he's spending most of his time trying to shift production out of China to a country with a lower tariff rate. "Staying in China is not sustainable because even if they make a deal, we don't know what's going to happen," he said. "The United States is also not an option, because there's just no facilities that can make it." Van Meer said Afina currently has enough inventory in its US warehouses to last until August, at which point he would have to start charging for the tariff. Asked whether he would roll that cost into the price or apply a surcharge, as other businesses have said they would do, van Meer said he hadn't yet decided. "We'll probably do testing," he said. Read the original article on Business Insider
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A business owner tested if customers would pay more for American-made. The results were 'sobering.'
Afina founder Ramon van Meer wanted to see if people would buy a Made-in-USA version of his specialty shower head. He found it would cost three times as much to produce — and raised the sale price by 85%. After several days of testing, a total of zero customers bought the USA model. As a small business owner, Ramon van Meer said he's used to hearing people say they'd be willing to pay more for products made in America. When President Donald Trump ratcheted up tariffs on Chinese imports by an additional 145%, van Meer decided to see if shoppers would put their money where their mouth is. "I wanted to know the answer and then use it for my own company," the Afina founder told Business Insider. So the serial entrepreneur set about finding US suppliers to make his best-selling product: a specialized filtered shower head. Van Meer said his filters are made in the US, some additional materials are sourced in Vietnam, and the final product is made in China with a single supplier. To move everything over to the US, he said he had to find four to six separate suppliers who would handle various aspects of the production process. All told, he found it would cost three times as much to produce — more than the cost of simply paying the tariff. Armed with real numbers, he set out to do a test with two identical products, with the only difference being their origin and, critically, their price: visitors to Afina's website were presented with the option of a Chinese-made item for $129 or a US-made version for $239. "I'm big on just testing it out with real data and real purchases," van Meer said. "Not asking customers, not a survey, not even add-to-carts." "When somebody has to pay for it, that's the actual real data," he added. After several days and more than 25,000 visitors, he said he sold 584 of the lower-priced shower heads and not one single purchase of a US-made version. In a blog post that went viral, van Meer called the results "sobering." "We wanted to believe customers would back American labor with their dollars. But when faced with a real decision — not a survey or a comment section — they didn't," he wrote. Nowadays van Meer said he's spending most of his time trying to shift production out of China to a country with a lower tariff rate. "Staying in China is not sustainable because even if they make a deal, we don't know what's going to happen," he said. "The United States is also not an option, because there's just no facilities that can make it." Van Meer said Afina currently has enough inventory in its US warehouses to last until August, at which point he would have to start charging for the tariff. Asked whether he would roll that cost into the price or apply a surcharge, as other businesses have said they would do, van Meer said he hadn't yet decided. "We'll probably do testing," he said. Read the original article on Business Insider
