Two weeks ago, we talked about the announcement by US President Donald Trump that would apply one more tax round in 10%, this time on all products made in China that had not yet been affected by previous tax adjustments. The move would, of course, affect basically Apple's entire product line, which made Apple's actions lack. Now, however, Cupertino can breathe even briefly.
United States Trade Representative Office (United States Trade Representative, or USTR) announced today that the new tariffs, which would originally apply on September 1, have been postponed to December 15th for “certain items,” such as cell phones, computers, and monitors. Other types of products will be completely removed from the readjustment for health, protection or national security reasons but Apple products are certainly not in any of these categories.
Even if the new taxes are coming sooner or later, the postponement is great news for Apple. This is, of course, because the bulk of the company's launches happen just in the second half as the new iPhones, which, even falling, are still Cupertino's main source of profit. With deferred rates, Ma can take advantage of a good window without taxes and maximize her revenues (since, apparently, the increase in rates will be absorbed by the company).
The market responded well: $ AAPL jumped by more than 4.5% and is currently worth over $ 209. As a result, Ma's actions recovered their lost value just two weeks ago, when the Trump government announced the new tax round.
The USTR has announced that it will publish today a complete list of all product categories that will have their tax adjustment postponed, as well as those that will be exempt from the new fees. For Apple, however, just that initial announcement is already great news now, and it's up to us to think about the steel strategies for when the tariff hike really comes, by the end of the year.
via MacRumors | Image: Shutterstock
