Apple, which counts China as its biggest manufacturing hub and the U.S. as its largest market, is now at the center of an escalating geopolitical fight that threatens to span tariffs and regulatory probes.
The Trump administration’s new 10% levy on Chinese-made goods is poised to squeeze the company at an already-challenging time, when it’s suffering from sluggish iPhone sales and playing catch-up in artificial intelligence. And in China, the country’s antitrust watchdog is weighing a probe into App Store policies, though that process began months before Donald Trump took office as U.S. president.
The company’s smartphone archrival, meanwhile, has one immediate advantage. Unlike Apple, Samsung Electronics makes most of its devices outside China — in places such as Vietnam and India. That means it won’t face the tariff dilemma of either raising prices or lowering its profit margins, though a broader trade war is likely to engulf countries well beyond just the two main antagonists.
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