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.
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.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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FOX Business’ Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.
