Groundless accusations won't help US economy

The White House's reaction to Apple's slashing its revenue guidance for the fiscal first quarter is both odd and unreasonable. Speaking on Friday, the day after Apple's announcement, Director of the National Economic Council Larry Kudlow said China may have "picked off" Apple's technology as it was becoming very competitive with the US giant.

Apple did cite an unexpected slowdown in China as one of the reasons for its downturn in revenue, but there are probably a couple of reasons for that: The trade frictions with the United States have damped Chinese consumers' enthusiasm for US products, and Apple has priced its new products beyond the reach of the majority of Chinese consumers. Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Chinese consumers are spending less, which is not necessarily true. It is primarily because Chinese consumers have more choices now at every price point.

And the reality is that with the next big thing yet to emerge, the competition is fierce in a market where the existing technology has been around for awhile.