Apple warned US officials tariffs on its products would reduce the company’s contributions to the domestic economy and harm its ability to compete with Chinese rivals.

In a letter, Apple urged the government to reconsider a proposed 25 per cent tariff on goods imported from China, which it said would impact all of its major products including iPhones, iPads and AppleTV.

It argued the move would “tilt the playing field in favour of our global competitors” since Chinese and other non-US vendors would not be impacted by the tariffs.

Apple, which claimed to be the largest corporate taxpayer in the country, also said the tariffs would cut into its domestic economic contributions. The company previously pledged to invest more than $350 billion in the US over the course of five years.

The letter comes as part of Apple’s campaign to avoid being caught up in the country’s ongoing trade battle with China and follows a meeting between CEO Tim Cook (pictured) and President Donald Trump last week.

In 2018, Apple successfully persuaded the US to exclude smartwatches and earphones from a list of goods subject to an initial round of tariffs.

However, the company appears to be preparing in case its latest effort is unsuccessful, reportedly making plans with suppliers to shift production out of China into South East Asia.