The White House is insisting that Donald Trump ’s vision of Apple ’s flagship iPhones Being produced domestically in the US will become reality, even though both analysts and the company claimed it wouldn’t be feasible.
The press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told reporters during Tuesday’s briefing that the president believed Apple’s recently announced $500bn investment , as well as increasing import costs sparked by his trade tariffs I would recommend encouraging the company to increase production within the United States.
"He thinks we possess the manpower, the workforce, and the resources to accomplish this. If Apple hadn't believed the U.S. was capable, they likely wouldn't have invested such a significant amount," she stated.
On Wednesday, Trump reinforced his assertion. posting To his Truth Social platform, he stated: "Now is an excellent time for businesses to relocate to the U.S., similar to how companies such as Apple and numerous others are doing so at unprecedented rates."
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According to specialists like Apple CEO Tim Cook and former head honcho Steve Jobs, who has since passed away, the issue lies in the fact that the U.S. lacks the skilled labor force available in countries responsible for manufacturing most of their electronic devices. For instance, China produces around 85% of all iPhones; meanwhile, India and Vietnam also play significant roles in this sector.
It suggests that a concept proposed by Howard Lutnick, who served as Secretary of Commerce under President Trump, during an interview with CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, may not come to fruition. Lutnick had suggested that both Apple and other technology firms would utilize "America's tradecraft" to produce their goods.
Recall the massive armies of people working tirelessly to assemble countless iPhones piece by piece? Something like that could very well happen here in America, Lutnick said .
It will be automated, and wonderful Americans – the expertise of America – will tackle them and work on them.
Jobs firmly believed even in 2010 that this situation would never occur. Axios reported On Tuesday, remarks were made by Jobs, as follows: Walter Isaacson’s biography During discussions with Barack Obama, he mentioned that the U.S. did not have enough highly skilled personnel for the company’s requirements.
Jobs mentioned that Apple had 700,000 factory employees working in China, which was necessary due to the requirement for 30,000 engineers to be present on site to support these workers.
"You won't come across too many like that to employ in America," he stated.
More recently, Cook, whom Trump memorably known as "Tim Apple" During his initial term, he remained equally direct, according to Axios. told Fortune in 2017 That firms similar to his depended on nations like China not for low-cost labor, but for the caliber of skilled workers.
"The reason is due to the concentration of skills and the number of skilled individuals in one place, as well as the specific types of skills," he explained.
Our products demand highly sophisticated tooling. The accuracy needed for this tooling, along with the materials we use, must be cutting-edge, and our expertise in toolmaking runs quite profound.
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In the United States, gathering tooling engineers might struggle to completely fill a conference room. However, in China, you could potentially fill several soccer stadiums.
Other experts, meanwhile, reject the White House’s insistence that tariffs will encourage Apple to begin building its products in the US with American workers aided by robots.
"I don't believe that's a concept," said Laura Martin, a senior technology analyst at Needham. told CNBC ’s The Exchange.
You can't accomplish this right away; it requires several years. It took India around three years to increase its share to 14% of Apple's iPhone production.
Concerns regarding tariffs have exacerbated Apple's market challenges, causing their stock price to drop approximately 31% this year. It was reported on Wednesday that Microsoft has surpassed Apple in terms of valuation. world’s most valuable company .