Today, like most past days, is not a good day for stocks here in the United States, as Apple was forced to downgrade its economic forecast and cast the blame for its losses directly in the lap of Donald Trump. More specifically, Apple CEO, Tim Cook, sites Trump’s ongoing trade war with China as the reason the company is losing money.
In a letter to investors, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company saw lower-than-expected sales primarily in China. Cook told CNBC’s Josh Lipton that the trade dispute with the U.S. is exacerbating economic issues in China.
“It’s clear that the economy began to slow there in the second half and I believe the trade tensions between the United States and China put additional pressure on their economy,” Cook said Wednesday.
Apple shed 7 percent postmarket. Shares of semiconductor stocks fell after the announcement. Industrial giant Caterpillar, which draws a substantial amount of business from the Asia Pacific region, also saw its shares fall 3 percent in after-hours trade.
