Apple's $44 billion valuation drop shows growing cost of reliance on China

Apple Inc’s reliance on China is looking increasingly like its biggest handicap.

The world’s most influential consumer electronics company shed $44 billion of market value Friday after a pair of pronouncements from Beijing and Washington cast a spotlight on its massive Chinese production base, from which almost all of the world’s iPhones are made.

US President Donald Trump this weekend “ordered” American companies to immediately start looking for alternatives to manufacturing in China, which is something Apple is thoroughly unprepared for, according to analyst Daniel Ives of Wedbush Securities Inc.

“In a best case scenario,” says Ives, Apple “would be able to move