China could retaliate by disrupting Apple's supply chain, but I don't think it will happen as it would put a huge question mark over China as a component supplier for every single industry.
The US controls nearly all aspects of the global technology industry. It can rather smash Huawei any time it chooses to, ZTE style, by entirely revoking Huawei's access to critical components (and a lot of markets).
Without China, Apple remains the most profitable company on earth and can safely, entirely abandon China. Taiwan I'll note is not China.
Huawei on the other hand can't survive as is without US technology. They'd lose at least 3/4 of their business and most likely end up in bankruptcy.
> Taiwan I'll note is not China.
Assuming you are referring to.Foxconn, their HQ is on Taiwan but the assembly lines are on the mainland.
No the only way, US can impact these company is by preventing them to trade with the rest of the world. But after ZTE, this will be seen as full war by China, and the global economic impact of this will make 2008 looks like a great year for the economy.
And I'll note that headquarters are not the same as supply chains. Much of what Apple sells all over the world is made in China (PRC).
There's little doubt that both the US and China are capable of massively disrupting each other's tech industries in the short term.
But as I said, the incentives not to do that are overwhelming. Let's just hope the tit for tat doesn't get out of hand.
Trump's emotions are on display for everyone to see, but I think the US administration and maybe even Trump himself are more aware of the trade-offs than they're letting on.
In China, I believe, it's the other way around. The regime likes to appear rational and unemotional, but I think they are struggling hugely to keep more aggressive nationalist sentiment at bay.
There's a danger that face saving and responding "adequately" to perceived national humiliation could take on a dynamic of its own.
This is the stuff that wars are made of - real wars, not just trade wars.