Despite Apple billions: Trump's dream of a US iPhone probably an illusion
US President Donald Trump and his officials desperately want the iPhone to have a "Made in USA" sticker. But even now it doesn't look very likely.
Apple-Labor in Austin: Keine iPhones, dafĂĽr "advanced hardware".
(Image: Apple)
Apple plans to invest 600 billion US dollars in its domestic market over the next four years, 100 billion of which was announced just this week – with great fanfare, a golden gift for US President Donald Trump and a new brand of sorts, the "Apple American Manufacturing Program". There was only one thing that Apple CEO Tim Cook did not want to announce: the local production of iPhones that the American government had so much hoped for.
iPhone with great US content
Cook seems to have succeeded in convincing Trump that this is no easy task. He was surprisingly reserved in front of media representatives. Instead of threatening Apple once again with tariffs on smartphones produced in China and India, there was a lot of praise for Apple – and understanding. iPhone production had been "in other places for a long time", with the corresponding cost model, Trump said. "But I think we can one day give [Cook] enough incentive to bring [the iPhone] here."
Trump praised component manufacturing in the USA. Nowhere does Apple invest as much as here. "Not even close." Apple is "coming back to America". Cook had previously emphasized how important the iPhone components that are already manufactured in the USA are to him: "Many semiconductors, the glass, the Face ID module." Production also takes place for products that are sold in other countries. "The [iPhone] content from the United States is huge."
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Final assembly of iPhones remains in China and India
It is therefore unlikely that Apple will bring the iPhone – which has never been produced there – back to the USA in the foreseeable future. Instead, the company is continuing to expand production in India, even if it is mainly components supplied from China that are assembled there. According to observers, it could take many years before the supply chain that exists in the People's Republic is established on the subcontinent.
Cook had bought himself a bit of freedom with the billion-euro investment. This is because companies that invest heavily in the United States, such as Apple, are to receive customs exemptions. Chip imports, for example, are to be subject to 100 percent import duties. Apple will not have to pay these. Even in the current conflict between the USA and India over Russian oil, Apple is unlikely to become a customs victim, at least according to the current status –.
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