U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says President Donald Trump is trying to “light a fire” under the European Union (EU) and tech giant Apple, to ensure America is bringing back production dominance.
“I would hope that this would light a fire under the EU, because… I’ve said before, [the] EU has a collective action problem here. It’s 27 countries, but they’re being represented by this one group in Brussels. So some of the feedback that I’ve been getting is that the underlying countries don’t even know what the EU is negotiating on their behalf,” Bessent said on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.”
President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to impose fresh tariffs on both Apple and the European Union, saying that the iPhone manufacturer and the trading bloc have not heeded to his previous demands.
BESSENT SAYS WALMART WILL ABSORB ‘SOME TARIFFS’ AFTER SPEAKING WITH RETAILER’S C.E.O.
In two quick-fire posts on Truth Social, Trump warned he would slap a 25% tariff on imported iPhones if Apple refuses to make the smartphones in the U.S. The move comes after Trump met with Apple CEO Tim Cook at the White House on Wednesday, Fox confirmed.
“Again, the president is trying to bring back precision manufacturing to the U.S.,” Bessent explained. “And I think that one of our greatest vulnerabilities is this external production, especially in semiconductors, and a large part of Apple’s components are in semiconductors, so we would like to have Apple help us make the semiconductor supply chain more secure.”
When asked by Bill Hemmer “how bad” conversations must’ve gone with the respective parties, Bessent claimed this was in response to the EU’s “pace,” and that he wasn’t directly involved with Cook’s visit to the White House.
“There are 18 important trade deals that we have to do. I’m working mostly on Asia. And that group has moved forward with some very interesting proposals, they’re negotiating in good faith,” the Treasury secretary said. “We’ve already inked a deal with the UK.”
Bessent did acknowledge that it could take some time for Apple to fully transition away from Chinese production and manufacturing.
“I do think that Apple started moving a big portion of their supply chain out of China during COVID when China proved to be an unreliable partner,” he added.
Tariff talks are “far along” with India, according to Bessent, who noted more deals with trade partners will likely be announced in July – and that “with the exception of the EU, most are negotiating in very good faith.”
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FOX Business’ Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.
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