China’s state-backed newspaper argues that Apple Inc. should share more of its profits with China.
People’s Daily claims in an article that the iPhone maker substantially benefits from the supply chain and cheap labor in China, and could face "anger and nationalist sentiment" amid the ongoing trade war unless the tech firm gives out a bigger slice of its earnings to Chinese citizens.
The article also states that China is the “most important” overseas market for Apple, and indicated that the tech giant could be caught in the crossfire of U.S.-China trade tensions. The Chinese daily also hinted at its disappointment with the 1.8% share that the firm’s Chinese supply chain gets paid out of Apple’s total profits – but People's Daily did not mention where it got this figure from. The article suggests that Apple should increase its payouts to Chinese people if it does not want any potential nationalist sentiment to dampen its products’ popularity in China.