iPhone sales don't count as a US export when calculating the trade deficit? Does anyone have information on this? Seems like a major issue indeed.

I was wondering the same thing and found this paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S10439...

Of course they don't because they are made in China. Do you think that Ford cars manufactured in Mexico count as U.S export?

The physical phone is a "good" that is exported from china. But the majority of the value for an iPhone is in the "services" rendered to that phone, which may be sold/exported from the US but can likely be shifted to other countries in order to avoided taxation/tariffs.