Economist: Trump’s smartphone retreat

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00:00Vicky, is Trump's smartphone and electronics olive branch a significant trade war retreat?

00:08Was this driven by the possible higher prices that American consumers would be having to fork out?

00:15Well, one would think so.

00:17One doesn't know exactly the discussions that may be happening between President Trump and all those big firms like Apple and others,

00:25which would have seen prices for their products go up very significantly.

00:30So there has been pressure from business all along that saying quite clearly to President Trump that tariffs are a problem,

00:39they would increase their cost of production, the idea of moving everything back to the U.S.

00:43and being able to produce anything as cheaply as happens elsewhere is just for the birds.

00:48And that has so far, or had so far, a very little impact on the Trump announcements.

00:57But I think perhaps the realization of what it would mean for some of those firms and for the consumer must have sunk in.

01:04And yes, you could see that as a bit of a retreat.

01:07Yes, there'd be these other levies that I mentioned earlier that President Trump has already hinted on electronics,

01:13but those levies are likely to be a lot less than what would otherwise have been the case.

01:18So, yes, I think there is a bit of a retreat.