Conservative CNBC host Joe Kernen pressed White House adviser Kevin Hassett after President Donald Trump threatened to place a 25% tariff on Apple iPhones.
During a Tuesday interview, Kernen told Hassett that costs would skyrocket if Apple were forced to manufacture iPhones in the U.S.
"We're trying to figure out an off-ramp for Apple," the CNBC host said. "It'd be a $3,000 iPhone if they tried to make everything here."
Co-host Andrew Ross Sorkin pointed out that some iPhone models could cost consumers $3,500.
"What is [Apple CEO] Tim Cook supposed to do?" Kernen asked.
"Right. Well, you know, we'll see how it works out," Hassett replied. "But the bottom line is that what we're trying to do is onshore as much as we can in the U.S. and make it so that the U.S. is not hyper-dependent on imports from China."
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"And so I think that one of the things we're seeing is that people are moving way faster than you might expect," he continued. "You know, with supply chains moving fast and just-in-time inventory management and AI, I think you're going to be astonished in how quickly stuff moves onshore."
"And in the interim, you know, then we'll see how it works out. But they need to move their stuff onshore as much as possible to make it so that the U.S. economy is secure and not prone to, you know, Chinese extortion."
The New York Times reported that Trump may have threatened the new tariffs on Apple after Cook skipped the president's recent trip to the Middle East.
