Apple shares fell sharply in after-hours trading on Wednesday after the United States announced sweeping new tariffs, including a 34% levy on Chinese imports that is expected to significantly disrupt the tech giant’s supply chain.
The move, part of President Donald Trump’s broader overhaul of trade policy, will bring the total tariff on Chinese goods to 54%.
Apple, which still relies heavily on Chinese manufacturing for products sold in the US, now faces heightened costs across its global production network.
The White House said the tariffs, including a universal 10% baseline, will come into force on 9 April. The new regime also affects other key Apple production sites in Asia, undercutting the company’s efforts to diversify supply chains beyond China.
Apple shares slid as much as 7.9% in post-market trading, adding to an 11% year-to-date decline amid broader tech sector pressure.
Analysts at Bloomberg Intelligence warned that Apple’s profit margins were likely to be squeezed, noting that the company was unlikely to pass the cost on to consumers in a weakening market.
“If Apple raised prices, it would do so at a time of shaky consumer sentiment,” analysts Anurag Rana and Andrew Girard wrote in a note.
Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In an effort to maintain goodwill with Washington, Apple had earlier pledged to invest $500 billion in the US over the next four years, including AI-related manufacturing in Texas and chip production in Arizona.
But mass production within the United States remains limited, with the Mac Pro – built in Texas – representing a small portion of sales.
During Trump’s first term, Apple CEO Tim Cook successfully lobbied for exemptions from tariffs, arguing that they would damage an American company while giving an advantage to foreign competitors like South Korea’s Samsung.
This time, those efforts appear to have fallen short, with Apple caught in the crossfire of Trump’s tariff reset. While the company has begun shifting some production to India and Vietnam, most of its core devices, including iPhones, are still assembled in China.
The latest trade actions have raised broader fears of a renewed global trade war. With levies targeting countries across Asia and beyond, supply chain disruptions and consumer price increases could ripple through international markets in the weeks ahead.
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