Apple In China

Well, remember the army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in little screws to make iPhones. That kind of thing is going to come to America. It's going to be automated and great Americans, the trade craft of America is going to fix them, is going to work on them …

U.S Secretary of Commerce, Howard Luttnick on Face the Nation April 7 2025

Where is your phone made? And does it matter?

Readers of this Substack will know that answering even the first of these questions isn’t a simple matter.

It’s very likely that the ‘System-on-Chip’, containing the phone’s Central Processing Unit and other essential electronics, is made in Taiwan by TSMC. Millions of words have been written about the world’s reliance on TSMC for leading edge silicon and the vulnerability that this introduces into global supply chains for the most advanced semiconductors.

But what about the rest of the manufacturing process? The work needed to assemble hundreds of components into a working phone. Most readers will be aware that the majority of the 1.2 billion smartphones shipped worldwide in 2024 were assembled in mainland China.

But does this matter? The current United States government under Donald Trump certainly thinks so. At the time of writing, his stated intention is to impose import tariffs of 25% on iPhones made outside of the United States.

Donald Trump has threatened to impose a 25% tariff on iPhones if they are not made in the United States, as he stepped up the pressure on Apple to build its signature product in the country.

The president wiped approximately $70bn (£52bn) off the company’s shares with a post on the Truth Social platform that said iPhones sold inside the US must be made within the country’s borders.

Trump said in the post: “I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhones that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else. If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the US.”

This is, of course, only the latest of a series of announcements that have seen tariffs introduced, then removed, then added again.

It’s clear, though, that the US government sees the fact that iPhones are made in China as a bad thing