Did Tim Cook fail? Apple shares are in freefall after new tariff announcements

It’s finally happened: the Trump administration has announced tariffs that are being applied to seemingly every region in the world. Despite Apple CEO Tim Cook’s efforts in recent months to protect his company from these tariffs, Apple shares have fallen by a whopping 7.9 percent since the announcement.The newly drafted tariff plan is brutal for Apple because it targets every country that the company manufactures its products in. China — Apple’s largest manufacturing hub — is now subject to a mind-blowing 54 percent tax rate. Taiwan, which manufactures Apple silicon, has also seen massive increases though the White House says that chips are exempt for now.

In the last few years Apple has made efforts to diversify its manufacturing locations and has opened new operations in other countries as well. These places — like India, Vietnam and Thailand — have also been hit with massive tariff rates. Vietnam for example is seeing an increase of 46 percent and India will have to add another 26 percent on top of previous rates.

All of these countries being hit with new tariffs, which go into effect from April 9, means that Apple will suddenly need to pay a lot more to manufacture its devices outside of the U.S. And, as is expected, if the company passes on this burden to the customers then you can expect the iPhone 17 to be a lot more expensive than its predecessor.