I'm genuinely curious how many iPhones are sold in Turkey. Important to note, I just read that Turkey already had the 2nd most expensive iPhones in the world, behind Brazil, due to tariffs.
iPhones are still in almost every phone store in Turkey. I think they've been selling slower due to the currency fluctuations, a few years ago they'd cost 2000TL, now they cost 5000TL, and I last checked a few months ago when it was still 4.5ish to the dollar, so I expect they will be more expensive next time I check.
I suspect he's doing this because Apple is a very visible symbol of the US in Turkey. He's taking away a thing to get people worked up so he can point to us and say "Look what they made me do to you! It's on them, not me!"
Sanctioning Trump businesses doesn't really earn him political capital at home with the rank and file, because they probably wouldn't even recognize it. They can't afford anything to do with Trump real estate.
That's even less strategic value. Trump is not kidding when he says "[country he represents] first"; hence dropping sanctions because Turkey grabbed some of his property makes no sense.
I wouldn't expect a reaction to that to happen publicly. I would be surprised if I saw those same security people invited here again... Generally, geopolitical things don't happen for one reason. We just attacked their currency. 3LA sponsored presidents would never be able act like this. Extraordinary times.
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[ 5.5 ms ] story [ 257 ms ] thread1. https://www.trump.com/real-estate-portfolio/istanbul/trump-t...
Sanctioning Trump businesses doesn't really earn him political capital at home with the rank and file, because they probably wouldn't even recognize it. They can't afford anything to do with Trump real estate.
But iPhones? They're everywhere-ish.
Anyway this is just a diversion to shift attention away from his own behavior causing the lira to collapse.