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We're trying to figure out an off-ramp for Apple," the CNBC host said. "It'd be a $3,000 iPhone if they tried to make everything here."

Co-host Andrew Ross Sorkin pointed out that some iPhone models could cost consumers $3,500.

"What is [Apple CEO] Tim Cook supposed to do?" Kernen asked.

"Right. Well, you know, we'll see how it works out," Hassett replied. "But the bottom line is that what we're trying to do is onshore as much as we can in the U.S. and make it so that the U.S. is not hyper-dependent on imports from China."

Our "hyper-dependence on …China” is obviously not that hyper if Apple is moving manufacturing to India. Besides, Apple still has to import rare earths for its iPhones, so….whaddya gonna do ‘bout that?

And the iPhone 16 Pro retails at $1000. A 25% tariff would raise it to $1250. A $3500 iPhone would be quite a price increase. And since Trump’s tariffs are so mercurial and not signed into law, I suspect Apple can outlast him.

"And so I think that one of the things we're seeing is that people are moving way faster than you might expect," he continued. "You know, with supply chains moving fast and just-in-time inventory management and AI, I think you're going to be astonished in how quickly stuff moves onshore."

Has this administration ever lied to you? And AI is the new magic that will solve all the problems we want it to solve. Until it doesn’t.

"And in the interim, you know, then we'll see how it works out. But they need to move their stuff onshore as much as possible to make it so that the U.S. economy is secure and not prone to, you know, Chinese extortion."

As opposed to U.S. extortion, which is freedom loving and God-fearing. 

The New York Timesreported that Trump may have threatened the new tariffs on Apple after Cook skipped the president's recent trip to the Middle East.

Which is yet another indicator Apple is likely to sue to overturn tariffs applied to it alone.

“We’ll see how it works out,” btw, is terrible government policy. And why the Constitution leaves these things to Congress, which has to foresee how “it works out” in order to get enough support from enough parties to enact federal policy. It actually works pretty damned well. Which is another reason Trump is failing in slow motion.