Trump Warned-China fires first warning shot, warning iPhone sales suffer if trade war starts

China is threatening Trump to not start a trade war using a 45% (I thought it was 35%) on goods entering US. They said they may have to rethink a large Boeing order, maybe go with air bus.

Trumps transition team says the two countries will have a strong relationship, keep in mind this is the state run newspaper in China, similar to our new york times.

video.cnbc.com... (45 sec. video)

Apple iPhones and other U.S. goods could suffer sales hits in China if President-elect Donald Trump goes through with his "naive" plan of slapping a large import tariff on Chinese products, a state-backed newspaper warned on Sunday.

During his election campaign this year, Trump spoke of a 45 percent import tariff on all Chinese goods while failing to outline how it would work. Should any such policy come into effect, China will take a "tit-for-tat approach", according to an opinion piece in the Global Times, a newspaper backed by the Communist party.

"A batch of Boeing orders will be replaced by Airbus. U.S. auto and iPhone sales in China will suffer a setback, and U.S. soybean and maize imports will be halted. China can also limit the number of Chinese students studying in the U.S.," the Global Times article read.

ut the Chinese newspaper was not convinced Trump would go through with his suggestion, calling it "merely campaign rhetoric" and questioning its legal validity. U.S. law dictates that presidents can only impose tariffs of no more than 15 percent for a maximum of 150 days on all imports.

As an example of earlier tariff-tit-for-tats, the Global Times pointed toward the 35 percent tariffs imposed in 2009 on Chinese tires. China retaliated with its own tariffs on U.S. car parts and chicken.

"Both China and the U.S. suffered losses as a result. From then on, the Obama administration waged no trade war against China. If Trump imposes a 45 percent tariff on Chinese imports, China-U.S. trade will be paralyzed," the Global Times said.

The opinion piece said Trump was a "shrewd businessman" and would not be naive, but, if he was serious with the policy, it would affect a number of U.S. industries.

"The new president will be condemned for his recklessness, ignorance and incompetence and bear all the consequences. We are very suspicious the trade war scenario is a trap set up by some American media to trip up the new president," the Global Times wrote.

America's relationship with China is in focus after Trump slammed the world's second-largest economy during his campaign. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump spoke over the phone on Sunday.

"During the call, the leaders established a clear sense of mutual respect for one another, and President-elect Trump stated that he believes the two leaders will have one of the strongest relationships for both countries moving forward," a statement from Trump's presidential transition team said.

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I would expect nothing less than opposition to this. Their leaders are looking out for their country's best interest. I expect our country's leader to do the same. I hope Trump stands strong and follows through.

I phones are # anyway

Who will they sell all of their cheap, poisonous, plastic crap to?

Isnt that the point so goods are made in america instead and jobs are created? LOL

a reply to: seasonal


LOL, how disgusting of a picture it paints of humanity that IPHONE is being used as a threat against a Nation.

Apple products are trash anyway.

Not much of a problem - Iphones could cost 2 thousand
bucks and the lines would still be out the door for them.
You know - can't disrupt the material signal of status and all.

I can only see good things coming from an iphone shortage.

Funny growing up we got by with 1 phone at home,no answering service,so a crisis involving some toy of the sheeple,a must have,big deal,life goes on without cell phones,maybe try actually talking with someone,might be the best thing to happen,someone ate at a denny's and no one knew

I doubt we will see a shortage of iPhones even though it wouldn't matter to me either way. What I see is less Apple jobs in China and more elsewhere.

a reply to: MagicCow

Not much of a problem - Iphones could cost 2 thousand bucks and the lines would still be out the door for them. You know - can't disrupt the material signal of status and all

If you believe Apple, they make that high price of phone reference to protect profits. I don't believe that, when you get info, you need to consider the source.

Apple will loose $ if the American people demand that the phone be made by well paid and well treated Americans instead of slave labor who jump off the buildings at Foxconn so often they put up net to catch them.

Just have to add, who does China think they are? They seem to forget Vietnam, South Korea, and the Philippines, among others will be more than glad to sell us their cheap, poisonous, plastic crap.

a reply to: seasonal

HAHAHAHAHA I totally forgot FoxConn has suicide nets.
HAHAHA You're right - I can't imagine the average american
working at a factory that produces iphones working 16 hour
days 6 day weeks at 6 dollars an hour.

Will be interesting to see.

Way to go China!!!! Maybe if they do people will start paying attention to the road again.

Apple will just move the production to Taiwan. Their components are made there anyways.

Seems to me China has much more to lose than the US in trade disputes.

Yup, US would have short term pain as plastic gadgetry and such became scarce, however an interruption of money flow to China would be catastrophic.

I would love to see China attempt to halt soybean and maize. Their country is so polluted and gross their food would have mutated to have tentacles by now if we weren't sending them food.

a reply to: Bedlam

Apple will just move the production to Taiwan. Their components are made there anyways.

Only if it is cheaper to put the things together.

a reply to: seasonal

I have a Chinese buddy at work who holds a decent position in the Chinese-American community here in Maryland and he was telling me how all the Chinese people were supporting Trump. I kept asking him why since Trump was calling China out as one of his targets for getting rid of free trade and that his policies would directly break China's economy. They didn't listen. It's funny to me to see them complaining now.