Everyone Is Criticizing Apple

Apple just cannot make anyone happy right now—and that’s not even taking into account the tepid response to its new “liquid glass” design principles. Its stores have become the latest target of climate activists looking to hold corporations for their role in the ongoing climate crisis, while it’s also getting hammered by the Trump administration for its failure to quit China cold turkey.

The first hit of the recent barrage of blows that Apple has taken came over the weekend when protesters with the global environmental movement Extinction Rebellion spray-painted the company’s retail store on 5th Avenue in New York City. Demonstrators painted “Boycott” under the Apple logo on the building’s entrance. Another message read “Tim + Trump = Toxic,” referring to company CEO Tim Cook, who gave money to Trump’s inauguration and seemed to have the president’s ear as he tried to navigate the Trump administration’s extreme tariffs.

In a press release, Extinction Rebellion called into question Apple’s commitment to addressing climate change given its dealings with the Trump administration, which has made a point of peeling back green energy commitments and approved the use of coal-fired power plants to help support the rapidly growing electricity demands of artificial intelligence systems.

On Monday morning, Apple caught a jab from the other side of the aisle. Trump advisor and tariff plan architect Peter Navarro went on CNBC and took a shot at Apple for still doing business in China. “Going back to the first Trump term, Tim Cook has continually asked for more time in order to move his factories out of China,” Navarro said during an appearance on CNBC. “With all these new advanced manufacturing techniques and the way things are moving with AI and things like that, it’s inconceivable to me that Tim Cook could not produce his iPhones elsewhere around the world and in this country,” Navarro said.

The whole “manufacture iPhones in America” thing has been a well-tread fantasy at this point, with estimates suggesting such a device would cost $3,000 or more. It’s not going to happen. But Apple’s preferred alternative, which is moving production to India, hasn’t managed to satisfy Trump, either. In May, the President claimed that he told Cook, “I don’t want you building in India” and threatened to apply a 25% tariff on every iPhone not made in the United States… which is going to be every iPhone.

Turns out there are downsides to trying to play both sides.