President Donald Trump is asking Apple to do the impossible as he threatens more tariffs if the iPhone maker fails to bring production back to the U.S., according to Barton Crockett, Rosenblatt Securities senior analyst. “It’s hard to believe that this comes to pass. This tariff asking them to do something that is pretty well-nigh impossible to do, to make iPhones at scale in this country, is not going to happen in an investable time frame, and certainly not while Trump is president,” Crockett said on CNBC’s ” Squawk Box ” on Friday. Trump said in a social media post that Apple will have to pay a tariff of 25% or more for iPhones made outside the U.S. Production of Apple’s flagship smartphone is now primarily in China, but the company has been shifting manufacturing to India in part because that country has a friendlier trade relationship with the U.S. “I would suspect that Apple is working really hard on what they can offer,” Crockett said. “They can’t make all their iPhones here, but perhaps they can start building something beyond what they have today to take the pressure off and but we’re really asking for the impossible, and it’s kind of hard to watch.” CEO Tim Cook’s technology company has become a frequent Trump target as the president pushes for Corporate America to bring factory jobs back to the U.S. and slaps steep tariffs on U.S. trading partners. Crockett believes Apple cannot stay quiet for long as Trump ramps up his demand. He speculated Apple could move a small portion of production to the U.S. to appease the president. “I think if they can put a facility somewhere that makes a few thousand iPhones, and put some R & D into robotics so that you can spin a story that at some point in the future … ‘maybe we can make iPhones,'” Crockett said. “That’s not going to happen while Trump is president, but they can put something in the ground that creates a future path that they can talk to.” — Additional reporting by CNBC’s Jesse Pound.
