Designed in California and made in China: How the iPhone skews the U.S. trade deficit

SHANGHAI – U.S. President Donald Trump often tweets from his iPhone about pressuring China to address its $375 billion trade surplus with the United States. But a closer look at the Apple smartphone reveals how the headline figure is distorted. The big trade imbalance -- at the heart of a potential trade war, with Trump expected to impose tariffs on Chinese imports this week -- exists in large part because of electrical goods and tech, the biggest U.S. import item from China. Apple Inc.'s iPhone, however, illustrates how a big portion of that imbalance is due to imports of American-branded products -- many of which use global suppliers for parts but are put together in China and shipped around the world. Take a look at the iPhone X. IHS Markit estimates its components cost a total of $370.25.