Andrew Ross Sorkin

Poof. It's a tremendous amount of wealth poof in the sort of broader scheme of the universe. But to make it feel personal, let's just say you had a portfolio and you were a retiree and 20% of your wealth went poof overnight. And it went poof overnight because of a... man-made crisis.

Poof. It's a tremendous amount of wealth poof in the sort of broader scheme of the universe. But to make it feel personal, let's just say you had a portfolio and you were a retiree and 20% of your wealth went poof overnight. And it went poof overnight because of a... man-made crisis.

You know, most of the crises that I've come in to talk to you about, whether it's in 2008 or it's the pandemic or whatever, there's been something that has happened ostensibly beyond our one human's control. Right. This is a panic that has been brought on by a particular person with a particular decision around, in this case, tariffs.

You know, most of the crises that I've come in to talk to you about, whether it's in 2008 or it's the pandemic or whatever, there's been something that has happened ostensibly beyond our one human's control. Right. This is a panic that has been brought on by a particular person with a particular decision around, in this case, tariffs.

Well, let's go through a couple of specific stocks and then let's talk about why it's impacting virtually every company in America and frankly the world.

Well, let's go through a couple of specific stocks and then let's talk about why it's impacting virtually every company in America and frankly the world.

So the easiest example is to look at a company like Apple. Its stock has dropped, by the way, about 18% in the last five days alone. Wow. That is about $700 billion of value destruction, $700 billion wiped out. And you might say to yourself, why? Well, Apple's a company that manufactures a lot of its goods in a combination of places like China, increasingly in places like Vietnam and India.

So the easiest example is to look at a company like Apple. Its stock has dropped, by the way, about 18% in the last five days alone. Wow. That is about $700 billion of value destruction, $700 billion wiped out. And you might say to yourself, why? Well, Apple's a company that manufactures a lot of its goods in a combination of places like China, increasingly in places like Vietnam and India.

In fact, Apple moved a lot of its manufacturing out of China to places like Vietnam and India, in part because of pressures from the U.S. government over the last several years in the relationship between the U.S. and China. And one of the reasons they did that was because there was always a concern that perhaps there would be tariffs in the future or national security issues.

In fact, Apple moved a lot of its manufacturing out of China to places like Vietnam and India, in part because of pressures from the U.S. government over the last several years in the relationship between the U.S. and China. And one of the reasons they did that was because there was always a concern that perhaps there would be tariffs in the future or national security issues.

Mostly aimed at China. Mostly aimed at China. There was never an expectation that if you were manufacturing your iPhones in India or Vietnam... that all of a sudden you are going to have to pay every time you shipped those phones into the United States something on the order of a 50% plus tariff, which is what we're talking about here.

Mostly aimed at China. Mostly aimed at China. There was never an expectation that if you were manufacturing your iPhones in India or Vietnam... that all of a sudden you are going to have to pay every time you shipped those phones into the United States something on the order of a 50% plus tariff, which is what we're talking about here.

That was my Apple phone, probably built in China, ringing, which would be tariffed if I bought a new one tomorrow. And so all of a sudden, if you're Apple, you are either going to have to do one of two things.

That was my Apple phone, probably built in China, ringing, which would be tariffed if I bought a new one tomorrow. And so all of a sudden, if you're Apple, you are either going to have to do one of two things.

Either you're going to have to charge the American consumer ostensibly 50% more for the phone than you did before, or you're going to have to eat some of that cost, which is going to ultimately cut into your profit and therefore cut into all sorts of other things you do, which is to say, how are you going to think about hiring next year? What does your research and development budget look like?

Either you're going to have to charge the American consumer ostensibly 50% more for the phone than you did before, or you're going to have to eat some of that cost, which is going to ultimately cut into your profit and therefore cut into all sorts of other things you do, which is to say, how are you going to think about hiring next year? What does your research and development budget look like?

Are you going to advertise as much as you did last year? And by the way, if the price point for the phone is higher, are there as many people who are going to buy it? And therefore, all of the economics of everything you do... Just went sideways. Just went sideways. And all of the interactions that you have with other businesses just went sideways.

Are you going to advertise as much as you did last year? And by the way, if the price point for the phone is higher, are there as many people who are going to buy it? And therefore, all of the economics of everything you do... Just went sideways. Just went sideways. And all of the interactions that you have with other businesses just went sideways.

And so the downstream effects, not just at Apple... but everywhere just cascade.

And so the downstream effects, not just at Apple... but everywhere just cascade.