Apple CEO Tim Cook has continued to press President Donald Trump for leniency as he continues to threaten tariffs on all remaining imports from China. | Alex Brandon/AP Photo trade Trump says Apple products won’t get tariff waivers

President Donald Trump said today that Apple will not be granted waivers from tariffs on parts and components it imports from China to make its new high-end Mac Pro computer.

“Apple will not be given Tariff waiver, or relief, for Mac Pro parts that are made in China. Make them in the USA, no Tariffs!“ he tweeted.


Apple applied last week for an exemption from the 25 percent tariff on 15 parts it uses to manufacture the computer. The requests were posted July 18 on the U.S. Trade Representative’s public docket. The administration has established a so-called exclusion process from the tariff and has given waivers to some importers.

For years, the president has tried to press the tech company to make more of its products in the U.S. Apple had previously assembled its Mac Pro in the U.S. but decided to shift production to China, The Wall Street Journal reported in June.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has taken a personal approach with Trump to sway him against slapping tariffs on the company’s popular products made in China. The Apple Watch and AirPods were removed last year from a list that targeted roughly $200 billion worth of Chinese imports.

Cook has continued to press Trump for leniency as he continues to threaten tariffs on all remaining imports from China — a list that would ensare iPhones and other popular Apple consumer products.

"U.S. tariffs on Apple’s products would result in a reduction of Apple’s U.S. economic contribution" and "weigh on Apple’s global competitiveness," the company wrote in the brief letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in June ahead of hearings to consider the next round of possible tariffs on China.

