Democrats rail against Apple after Trump unveils electronic tariff exemption

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Hill

04/12/25 3:39 PM ET


Democrats slammed the Trump administration for allegedly favoring sector-specific companies by giving them the ability to bypass the fallout from new trade policy with a Saturday exemption of electronics from “reciprocal” tariffs imposed on countries across the globe, including China.

Smartphones, computers, routers and semiconductor chips were all excluded from the president’s heightened taxes, leaving room for companies like Apple, which has a host of plants in China, to escape an uptick in price costs for consumers amid the onset of new tariffs.

“Apple CEO Tim Cook donated $1 million to Donald Trump’s inauguration. Looks like he’s getting a big return on his investment,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote in a Saturday post after learning of the news. Cook donated $1 million to President Trump’s inaugural fund, as did Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

The Apple CEO also met with the Republican candidate at Mar-a-Lago a month prior to his return to the White House showing signs of a budding relationship between the two.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5246353-democrats-rail-against-apple-after-trump-unveils-electronic-tariff-exemption/

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Sen. Warren Xitter post -

Link to tweet

Elizabeth Warren
@SenWarren
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Apple CEO Tim Cook donated $1 million to Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Looks like he’s getting a big return on his investment.
Mark Gurman
@markgurman
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BREAKING: President Donald Trump’s administration exempted smartphones, computers and other electronics from its so-called reciprocal tariffs in win for Apple (and shoppers). This lowers the China tariff from 125%. https://bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-12/trump-exempts-phones-computers-chips-from-reciprocal-tariffs
11:36 AM · Apr 12, 2025

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Blue Sky - https://bsky.app/profile/warren.senate.gov/post/3lmmufo4j3k2g

[AZJonnie]

1. Zero fucking chance Cook isn't paying WAAAAY more than $1M when all this is said and done

After all, what kind of shakedown would that be? Trump's basically giving these exemptions away? No way. Trump selling exemptions were what the tariffs were about from the start.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Don't forget all the OTHER companies that use this stuff

like HP, Samsung, LG, Dell, Lenovo (a Chinese company that bought out IBM's PC/laptop business & Motorola's phones), etc.

[Firestorm49]

3. And exactly how much was it that Apple donated to his campaign?

[republianmushroom]

4. Trump playing his game to watch the world dance to his tune.