The ongoing US-China trade war has been detrimental to American companies, and not even the biggest ones such as Apple have been able to escape unscathed.
Fortunately, there’s now light at the end of the tunnel, especially after the two countries agreed on a phase-one deal last week.
Among the terms agreed upon were some tariff reliefs which saw Apple narrowly avoid a 15% tariff that would have hit the company hard.
A Company Record
Thanks to this new reality, the tech giant saw its share price rise by 1.3% on December 13, with this percentage being a record for the company.
The 15% tariff was to kick in on December 15, and should it have, some of Apple’s popular products would have shot up in price immediately.
According to Wedbush’s Daniel Ives, the iPhone would cost $150 more than it currently goes for, a situation which would in turn, lower its demand by as high as 8%. The MacBook, as well as the iPad, would also have experienced an increase in price.
Naturally, the company had been vocal where the tariffs were concerned, urging the US government to push them back.
In November, Bloomberg reported that Apple had even filed multiple requests asking to be exempted from the taxes that that new tariffs would impose.
POTUS Involved
So vocal was the company in fighting against these tariffs that even POTUS himself got involved. During a Texas Apple facility visit, President Trump revealed that he had asked parties concerned to look into whether the tech giant should be exempted.
The President seems to have quite the perfect relationship with Apple, and he’s met CEO Tim Cook multiple times in 2019 alone. Could this have a bearing on the timing of the China deal? We may never know, but this is a story for another day.
As you may very well know, most of the company’s supply chain is located in the very country the United States has been in a trade war with for the longest time ever.
Perhaps the most significant assembly plant is the Zhengzhou-based one, and why wouldn’t it be, considering that half of the iPhones in the world come from this plant?
The 1.3% rise on Friday was the fourth day in a row that Apple’s stock had shown an increase, a positive sign for the company.
For most of 2019, Apple’s $1.2-trillion valuation meant that it was the world’s most valuable company until Aramco came from behind and took first place, valued at over $2 trillion.
All the same, this is not to say that the tech giant is facing tough times. In fact, taking the entire year into account, the company’s stock is worth 72% more than its value in 2019. That’s quite some gain, as any investor would tell you.