The Trump Organization announced Monday that later this year, it will launch Trump Mobile, a mobile virtual network operator, and a gold-colored smartphone, which it said will eventually be made in the U.S. The launch would create ethics concerns regardless, but even more so given the Trump administration's pressure for the FCC to answer directly to the White House, public interest groups said.
Apple stock was down Friday after President Donald Trump said it and other smartphone makers could be subject to sizable tariffs starting at the end of June. Trump "long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple" about his expectation that iPhones sold in the U.S. "will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else," he wrote Friday on Truth Social. "If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the U.S." Later, Trump told reporters the tariffs would also apply to Samsung and other smartphone makers. "Otherwise it wouldn't be fair," he said, adding that the tariffs should be ready next month. "When they build their plant here, there's no tariff." He also told reporters he was confident Apple could build iPhones in the U.S. that would be price-competitive. Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst covering tech for TF International Securities, posted on X that in terms of profitability, "it's way better for Apple to take the hit of a 25% tariff on iPhones sold in the US market than to move iPhone assembly lines back to US." Apple closed at $195.27, down $6.09.
HERSHEY, Pennsylvania -- FCC officials speaking Saturday at the FCBA's annual seminar expressed confidence that the agency will regain spectrum auction authority. Chief of Staff Scott Delacourt said the commission expects at least one auction, AWS-3, within the next year and is taking steps to ensure it can support that auction, such as preparing necessary IT, he said. Commissioner Nathan Simington said Congress sees midband spectrum as a priority, so a significant auction should be teed up by year-end.
Verizon isn’t sweating a potential downturn in the economy, Sowmyanarayan Sampath, executive vice president and CEO of Verizon Consumer Group, said Thursday during a MoffettNathanson conference. “We are really resilient, and we are ready for any type of economy,” he said. Sampath called it “a little premature” to discuss tariffs on smartphones. “We'll have to wait and see" what the real tariff is.
The Trump administration’s tariffs will affect the cost of network equipment used in building BEAD projects, but they aren’t the program's biggest challenge, experts said Wednesday during a Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition webinar.
Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday amplified a social media post from Gavin Wax, FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington’s chief of staff, on improving American manufacturing and competing with China. “Important point by Gavin,” Vance wrote in support of Wax's post about making American-made tech products competitive globally. Vance chiming in to support Wax is the latest example of prominent figures connected with President Donald Trump’s administration weighing in on issues raised by Simington and Wax since the latter joined Simington’s staff late last month. Since then, the two have authored a string of co-bylined articles on mostly FCC-centric topics that nevertheless are drawing attention from powerful Republicans. Trump himself reposted Simington and Wax’s article on broadcasting network affiliate fees (see 2505020066), and Simington recently appeared on the shows of former lawmaker Matt Gaetz and former Trump strategist Steve Bannon to discuss his articles with Wax.
Smartphone prices may increase for wireless customers, but AT&T otherwise faces no major challenges from higher U.S. tariffs (see 2505120050), COO Jeff McElfresh told a JPMorgan financial conference Tuesday. Handset prices are “a moving target” and are likely "going to rise,” he said. Customers “will bear the brunt” of rising costs “as they have over the last many cycles in the industry.”
Carriers concerned about rising prices for iPhones and other devices and gear from China got good news early Monday as the Trump administration struck a preliminary agreement to temporarily slash a proposed tariff on Chinese imports from 145% to 30%. “We have reached an agreement on a 90-day pause and substantially moved down the tariff levels -- both sides, on the reciprocal tariffs, will move their tariffs down 115%,” said U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
What the Trump administration's tariffs will mean for the communications sector remains murky (see 2504030056). On Thursday, the administration announced a deal with the U.K., the first of what it said will be multiple trade agreements.
The Consumer Technology Association wants House and Senate Commerce committee leadership to oppose NAB’s petition to the FCC on the ATSC 3.0 transition, CTA CEO Gary Shapiro said in a letter to legislators Tuesday. The letter was sent to Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and House Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J. Comments on the NAB petition were due Wednesday in docket 16-142.