Us, China: Apple’s CEO for calm heads on trade

BEIJING: Apple Inc’s Chief Executive Tim Cook on Saturday called for “calm heads” and more open trade, amid rising fears of a trade war between the United States and China. Trade tension between China and the United States flared this week when President Donald Trump unveiled plans on Thursday to slap tariffs on potentially up to $60 billion in Chinese goods. China’s Commerce Ministry on Friday urged the United States to “pull back from the brink”, saying it was not afraid to engage in a trade war. “I’m cognisant that in both the US and China, there have been cases where everyone hasn’t benefited, where the benefit hasn’t been balanced,” Cook said. Speaking at the annual China Development Forum in Beijing, Cook said he hoped “calm heads” would prevail. The sparring has cast a spotlight on hardware makers such as Apple, which assemble the majority of their products in China for export to other countries.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25^th, 2018.

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