Tariffs are advertised in the name of helping American workers, but what do you know? They turn out to favor the powerful and politically connected. That’s the main message of President Trump’s decision to exempt smartphones and assorted electronic goods from his most onerous tariffs.
At the time Apple and Cook were applying a charm offensive to persuade then-President Trump to remove tariffs on certain components that came from China. Cook asked Trump if he could meet him in person to make Apple’s case, a gesture the former president found “impressive,” he told Bloomberg. Trump was particularly pleased at the time that Cook reached out, especially considering his acrimonious relationship with other tech CEOs.
Although the trade deal affects billions of dollars worth of goods, it’s a particular victory for Apple CEO Tim Cook, who has personally worked to keep communication open with the Trump administration. Cook’s charm offensive culminated last month when he gave Trump a tour of a Mac Pro assembly plant in Texas. That computer is assembled in the United States, and Apple was granted tariff waivers for several of its components.
I might just report this to the FBI to see if they can trace the Bitcoin address (if they can seize cryptocurrency, they can trace it). Neither the name nor email came up on an internet search. I tried InfoTracer, but nothing came up there either. It’s spam, but it is concerning that they addressed it to my legal name and mailing address. Although, they could have gotten the information from a data leak. I only use the email for paying bills and have changed any passwords that were reportedly leaked (Apple notifies me).
The implementation of yet another U.S. initiative may allow it to interfere in the information policy of ASEAN and control the cyberspace of all of Southeast Asia.
This reminds me of the tech camps that were held in Ukraine before the Euromaidan. Anyone who has been following me for a while knows where that led to.Except, replace China with Russia.
American tech giants Tesla and Apple are suffering as they face intense competition from Chinese competitors. Elon Musk’s EV company reported a 55% drop in profit and 9% drop in first-quarter revenue Tuesday, its biggest year-on-year fall since 2012. Analysts began forecasting trouble for Musk’s EV empire after Tesla announced price cuts in China. Apple, meanwhile, saw a 19% dip in smartphone shipments to China this quarter, its worst performance since 2020, as it lost ground to local competitors like Huawei. Chinese smartphones are cheaper than iPhones, and have gained traction with more premium design and software features.
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