Apple responds to President Trump’s proposed tariffs

In a letter addressed to the Office of U.S. Trade Representative, Apple says President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on China will increase the prices on many of its most popular products including the Apple Watch and AirPods.

“Our concern with these tariffs is that the U.S. will be hardest hit, and that will result in lower U.S. growth and competitiveness and higher prices for U.S. consumers,” Apple said in the letter.

Apple spells out in clear terms which of its products would be most affected by the tariffs: The Mac Mini, Apple Pencil, HomePod, and many of its chargers and adapters would all become more expensive to produce. As a result, customers would most likely have to pay more for those gadgets.

What was most notable about the letter is the fact that the iPhone was not listed in the products that would be affected by the tariff proposal. Apple CEO Tim Cook previously said in a statement that he was confident that tariffs would not affect the iPhone. The device is still the primary revenue driver for the company, so it’s absence from this list is noteworthy.

Still, no one likes paying more for gadgets, so this would be a major blow to the company and its loyal customers. The company could theoretically absorb the cost of some of the tariffs, since it is the most valuable publicly traded company in the world and recently became the first $1 trillion U.S. company. But what’s more likely is that the company would pass the increased cost onto consumers, as noted in the letter.

You can read Apple’s letter below: