Designed in California, made in China: how the iPhone skews US trade deficit

An iPhone X is displayed on a table at an Apple store in New York, U.S., November 3, 2017. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/Files

SHANGHAI: US President Donald Trump often tweets from his iPhone about pressuring China to address its US$375bil (RM1.46tril) 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 US import item from China.