It's not even about the supposedly cheap labor. China has built very advanced automated assembly plants, and has a whole supply chain which provides most of the parts needed. Either we have to, at great expense, replicate that whole supply chain here, or we have to import the parts at great, tariffed, cost anyway and only do final assembly. While this would save money since I guess then the tariff is only on the BOM and not Apple's legendary margin, it would still massively inflate the cost. Why do "Republicans" love high taxes so much now?

This seems so stupid because we don't really need every continent to have a very complex and expensive supply chain for tiny electronic components when boats and money both exist, but let's say you disagree on that.

On what earth does it make sense to tariff smartphones in 2025 with zero warning? It would take ten years to fully construct a completely domestic supply chain for iPhones if you started today. So why not announce a tariff that starts in 10 years, so that that can be built, but we don't burden all Americans with this high tax on something everyone buys?

(Answer: Everybody knows Trump and Navarro will be dead in 10 years and that anyone else would cancel this dumbass idea and replace it with policy that isn't so idiotic and self-defeating.)