Apple CEO Tim Cook looks on behind President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance after the two were sworn into office at an inauguration ceremony in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 20, 2025.
SHAWN THEW/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
When the upper brass of Bay Area tech flocked east to pay their respects to Donald Trump earlier this year, they surely expected some preferential treatment in return. But instead, the president just hit them where it hurts.
Trump revealed sweeping new tariffs on Wednesday, including a 10% baseline tax on all imports and double or triple that much for certain countries. He dubbed the non-baseline tariffs “reciprocal” and noted that some goods would not be subject to those levies, including semiconductor chips, in a win for Silicon Valley. Nonetheless, on Thursday, the very tech executives who kissed Trump’s proverbial ring watched as his tariff announcement slammed the very thing they’re duty-bound to protect: the value of their companies.
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Apple, the Cupertino giant whose CEO, Tim Cook, personally donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund, is on pace for its worst stock market day in five years, CNBC reported. The iPhone and Mac maker is heavily reliant on Chinese manufacturing but also builds devices in India, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia; all are getting new tariffs that range from 24% to 46% of goods’ values. Dan Ives, a well-known tech investment analyst, wrote that Apple is in the “eye of the tariff storm” — a “Category 5 hurricane.”
As of midday Thursday, Apple’s stock price was down more than 9%, knocking over $300 billion off its market cap, and paring down the net worths of Cook and every stock-paid Apple employee. Ives estimated that, if the tariffs stay in place, Apple’s “price points would move up so dramatically its hard to comprehend.”
Cook’s Apple saw the biggest valuation decline, but other local CEOs also face ugly stock tables on Thursday. Meta is down about 8.5%, shedding over $100 billion in market cap. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who also donated to Trump’s inauguration fund and even co-hosted a reception for major Republican donors, has spent the past few months lobbying the Trump administration to settle an antitrust lawsuit against his company, the New York Times reported.
Google parent Alphabet is down about 3.5%; CEO Sundar Pichai was roped into a strange last-minute election claim by Trump, as SFGATE reported, and attended his inauguration as well. Nvidia’s Jensen Huang didn’t attend the inauguration but met with Trump to discuss artificial intelligence policy in January, the Associated Press reported. The Santa Clara company slumped nearly 7% on Thursday, losing more than $160 billion in value.
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The pain stretched across much of the global stock market, with huge sell-offs across industries and sectors. Should Trump’s tariffs lift the chances of a widespread trade war and should they stand, experts say, they’re likely to drive up prices across vast swaths of American life. The size of the tariffs surprised analysts and stoked fears of a recession, while a White House fact sheet from Wednesday said they’re “exactly what [Trump] promised” and “put America on a path to a new golden age.”
Work at a Bay Area tech company and want to talk? Contact tech reporter Stephen Council securely at [email protected] or on Signal at 628-204-5452.
April 3, 2025
