Trump again asks Apple to start manufacturing in US
Washington, Sep 9 : After Apple hinted at increasing the price of its products owing to tariffs on China, US President Donald Trump has once again asked the iPhone maker to shift manufacturing from Beijing to Washington.
Apple has written a letter to the Trump administration, saying the proposed $200 billion tariffs on China-made products will make the Apple Watch, AirPods headphones, HomePod smart speaker, Macs and key computer parts more expensive.
"Apple prices may increase because of the massive Tariffs we may be imposing on China - but there is an easy solution where there would be ZERO tax, and indeed a tax incentive," Trump tweeted on Saturday.
"Make your products in the United States instead of China. Start building new plants now. Exciting! MAGA." In January 2017, Trump said he spoke to Apple CEO Tim Cook over the phone and he promised to build "three big plants" in the US.
But Cook never directly responded to that claim.
What Apple actually announced in January was to contribute $350 billion to the US economy over the next five years that includes an estimated $55 billion investment in 2018.
In a letter written to the US Trade Representative on Friday, Apple said some of its popular products will get hit by the 25 per cent increase in import tax as proposed by the Trump administration on Chinese products.
Other products are Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad, Apple Pencil, Apple adapters, chargers, cables and cords, Apple main logic boards with microprocessing units, memory modules, video graphic/audio cards and PCBAs, Apple computer parts (e.g., housings and internal components) and printed circuit boards, among others
"Because all tariffs ultimately show up as a tax on US consumers, they will increase the cost of Apple products that our customers have come to rely on in their daily lives," Apple wrote in the letter.
According to a report in The Verge, Apple asked that the US revise its proposal and decline to place tariffs on the product categories that cover these devices.
The company's hardware products have taken it to become a $1 trillion company but those products are built in China which also creates thousands of jobs.
Apple is set to unveil new iPhones and other services on September 12.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
