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Apple Inc. has managed to dodge its biggest crisis since the pandemic — for the moment, at least.

Donald Trump’s 125% tariffs on goods produced in China threatened to upend its supply chain as seriously as the Covid snarls did five years ago. On Friday night, the US president handed Apple a major victory, exempting many popular consumer electronics. That includes iPhones, iPads, Macs, Apple Watches and AirTags.

Another win: The 10% tariff on goods imported from other countries has been dropped for those products.

A new and lower so-called sectoral tariff may still come on goods that have semiconductors, and a 20% tariff still applies to electronics shipped from China. Over the weekend, Trump pledged he will still apply tariffs to phones, computers and popular consumer electronics, portraying the exemptions as a procedural step in a broader effort to remake US trade.

Still, the timing for such a move remains uncertain. Till then, the surprise exemption marks a win for Apple and a consumer electronics industry that still heavily relies on the Asian nation for manufacturing.

“This is a major relief for Apple,” Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani said in a note on Saturday. “The tariffs would have driven material cost inflation.”

He expects the shares to rally Monday following an 11% rout this month.

Before the latest exemption, the iPhone maker had a plan: adjust its supply chain to make more US-bound iPhones in India, which would have been subject to far lower levies. That, Apple executives believed, would be a near-term solution to avoid the eye-watering China tariff and stave off hefty price hikes.

Given that the iPhone facilities in India are on pace to produce more than 30 million iPhones per year, manufacturing from that country alone could have fulfilled a fair chunk of American demand. Apple, these days, sells about 220 million to 230 million iPhones annually, with about a third of those going to the US.

Such a shift would be difficult to pull off without a hitch, especially because the company is already nearing production of the iPhone 17, which will be made primarily in China. Within Apple’s operations, finance and marketing departments, fears had grown about the impact on the fall launch of new phones — and fueled a sense of dread.

The company, in just a few months, would have needed to pull off the herculean task of moving more iPhone 17 production to India or elsewhere. It likely would have had to increase prices — something that’s still possible — and fought with suppliers for better margins. And Apple’s famous marketing engine would have had to convince consumers it was all worth it.

But the feeling of uncertainty remains. White House policies are likely to shift again, and Apple may need to pursue more dramatic changes. At least for now, though, management is breathing a sigh of relief.

The iPhone Is Apple’s Biggest Source of Sales

The company depends on the device for more than half of revenue

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce called the move “a small step by the US toward correcting its wrongful action of unilateral ‘reciprocal tariffs’, and urged the US to “take a big stride in completely abolishing the wrongful action, and return to the correct path of resolving differences through equal dialog based on mutual respect.”

However, smartphones other electronic devices that won exemptions will be part of a forthcoming levy on semiconductors, according to US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

Speaking Sunday on ABC’s This Week, Lutnick signaled that the late Friday reprieve — exempting a range of electronics from 125% tariffs on China and a 10% flat rate around the globe — was temporary, and reiterated Trump’s longstanding plan to apply a different, specific levy to the sector.

Explainer: What Are the ‘Reciprocal Tariffs’ That Trump Paused?

Another concern: If Apple moves even more production from China at a rapid pace, how would the country retaliate? Apple generates about 17% of its revenue from the country and operates dozens of stores, making it an outlier among US-based companies. An Apple spokesman declined to comment.

China has launched competition inquiries into US companies and could create issues for Apple through its own customs process. In recent years, it has also banned iPhones, among other US-designed devices, from its legion of government workers. That followed a US crackdown on Chinese tech champion Huawei Technologies Co.

The iPhone is Apple’s biggest moneymaker, and about 87% of them are produced in China, according to estimates from Morgan Stanley. About four in five iPads also are made in the country, along with 60% of Macs.

All together, those products are responsible for about 75% of Apple’s annual revenue. Still, the company now builds nearly all of its Apple Watches and AirPods in Vietnam. Some iPads and Macs are also manufactured in that country, and Mac production is expanding in Malaysia and Thailand.

The company generates about 38% of its iPad sales in the US, as well as about half its Mac, Apple Watch and AirPods revenue, Morgan Stanley estimates.

A complete split with China — Apple’s manufacturing hub for decades — would be unlikely. Though Trump has pushed Apple to make iPhones in the US, the lack of domestic engineering and manufacturing talent will make that nearly impossible in the short run.

The size and scale of the facilities in China makes it unmatched in speed and efficiency. The China production also is crucial for Apple’s sales in the world beyond the US. The Cupertino, California-based company gets nearly 60% of its revenue outside of the Americas.

Since a wave of tariffs were announced on April 2, lobbyists from Apple and other technology companies have been pushing the White House for exemptions.

But the discussions took on extra urgency in recent days after a series of tit-for-tat retaliations between Washington and Beijing led to what amounted to 145% duties on imports from China.

The potential impact was even more stark after Trump paused higher tariffs on other countries. That meant Apple rival Samsung Electronics Co., which makes its phones outside China, would have had an edge.

Apple and other companies have been stressing to the Trump administration that — while they are willing to increase investment in the US — there’s little benefit in moving final assembly to the country. Instead, they have argued, the US should be focusing on bringing back higher-value jobs and encouraging investment in things like semiconductor production.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has invited Donald Trump to visit his country ahead of any deal with Russia to end the war.

“Please, before any kind of decisions, any kind of forms of negotiations, come to see people, civilians, warriors, hospitals, churches, children destroyed or dead,” Zelensky said in an interview for CBS’s 60 Minutes programme.

The interview was recorded before a Russian missile hit the city of Sumy, killing 34 people and injuring 117 others.

Russia said it only strikes military or military-related targets while Trump said he had been told it was a mistake, without specifying who told him.
Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting, Friedrich Merz, has accused Russia of a war crime.

The attack comes as the US, Ukraine’s strongest military ally, has been pursuing an end to the war – now in its fourth year – through negotiation under Trump.

Asked about the attack, the US president said it was “terrible” and that he had been “told they made a mistake”, but did not elaborate.

Earlier, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, retired Lt-Gen Keith Kellogg, said the attack had crossed “any line of decency”.

However, it remains to be seen if Trump will accept Zelensky’s invitation.

Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, is the only senior member of Trump’s team to visit Kyiv, and that was to demand Zelensky sign a contract heavily weighted in Washington’s favour to trade Ukraine’s mineral wealth for continued military aid. Zelensky refused.

The Ukrainian president has highlighted Russia’s continued attacks on civilians while Trump attempts to improve relations with Moscow in search of a ceasefire.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff has already held three meetings with Vladimir Putin, and Kyiv is adamant Moscow will exploit this as it continues to erode Ukraine’s territory.

European leaders condemned the Sumy attack. Merz, who is expected to take over as Germany’s new chancellor next month, told the country’s public broadcaster ARD that the attack constituted a “serious war crime”.

“It was a perfidious act.. and it is a serious war crime, deliberate and intended,” the conservative politician said.

Germany’s outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz, meanwhile, said the attack showed “just what Russia’s supposed readiness for peace [was] worth”.

French President Emmanuel Macron accused Russia of “blatant disregard of human lives, international law, and the diplomatic efforts of President Trump”.

“Strong measures are needed to impose a ceasefire on Russia,” he said. “France is working tirelessly toward this goal, alongside its partners.”

Describing the attack as “barbaric”, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen added: “Russia was and remains the aggressor, in blatant violation of international law.

“Strong measures are urgently needed to enforce a ceasefire. Europe will continue to reach out to partners and maintain strong pressure on Russia until the bloodshed ends and a just and lasting peace is achieved, on Ukraine’s terms and conditions.”

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer also gave a view, saying he was “appalled at Russia’s horrific attacks on civilians in Sumy”.

A spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “deeply alarmed and shocked” to learn of the missile attack.

“Attacks against civilians and civilian objects are prohibited under international humanitarian law, and that any such attacks, wherever they occur, must end immediately”, he added.

Guterres stressed the UN’s support for “meaningful efforts towards a just, lasting and comprehensive peace that fully upholds Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity”.

Sunday’s double missile strike was the deadliest attack on civilians in Ukraine this year.

Another Russian missile attack, earlier this month on 4 April, killed 20 people and injured 61 in the city of Kryvyi Rih.

On that occasion, Russia’s defence ministry said it had targeted a meeting of “unit commanders and Western instructors” in a restaurant. No evidence was provided.

It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of people – the vast majority of them soldiers – have been killed or injured on all sides since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022.

The UN estimates that nearly seven million Ukrainians are currently living as refugees.

The conflict goes back more than a decade, to 2014, when Ukraine’s pro-Russian president was overthrown. Russia then annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea and backed insurgents in bloody fighting in eastern Ukraine.