Tech giant Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) cound find itself in the middle of a crossfire from President Donald Trump's trade war with China, media reports said.
In an opinion piece published in the People's Daily, the official newspaper of China's Communist Party, it said: "China is by far the most important overseas market for the US-based Apple, leaving it exposed if Chinese people make it a target of anger and nationalist sentiment."
"Many Chinese companies have been included in Apple's production chain to provide parts and components or assembly work. This has allowed Apple to benefit from China's ample supply of cheap labor."
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The paper said Apple has contributed significantly to job creation in China. Apple sources most of its parts for the iPhone from factories in Taiwan and on mainland China
"It is impractical and unreasonable to kick the company out of China, but if Apple wants to continue raking in enormous profits from the Chinese markets amid trade tensions, the company needs to do more to share the economic cake with local Chinese people," the paper said.
In July, the Trump administration slapped 25% tariffs on US$34BN in Chinese imports. Beijing retaliated and the administration on Tuesday unveiled a new list of about US$16bn worth of imports from China to be hit with 25% tariffs.
Apple is the world's top producer of smartphones and is also a major player in music and cloud services.
Contact Rene Pastor at rene.pastor@proactiveinvestors.com