President-elect Donald Trump promised during the presidential campaign period that he will ask Apple CEO, Tim Cook, to transfer the production of Apple device, like the iPhone, in the United States. It seems that he remains true to his word, he recently asked Tim Cook to comply.
One of the promises of president-elect Donald Trump during his campaign period at Liberty University in Virginia is to bring manufacturing jobs in the United States. In one of his speeches, he brought up Apple iPhone manufacturing jobs as one of his priorities.
According to New York Times, president-elect Donald Trump told reporters that he received a call from Apple CEO Tim Cook. Trump said in their conversation, "Tim, you know one of the things that will be a real achievement for me is when I get Apple to build a big plant in the United States." He advised Cook that "instead of going to China and going to Vietnam and going to the places that you go to, you're making your product right here."
However, Apple CEO Tim Cook responded briefly with, "I understand." President-elect Donald Trump also said that he offered Cook incentives if he will transfer manufacturing in the US. Also, Trump promised Cook that "we're going for a very large tax cut for corporations, which you'll be happy about."
On the other hand, suppliers commented recently that manufacturing most Apple device in the United States is impractical. Suppliers pointed out that the transfer of manufacturing in the US will not necessarily create more jobs due to lack of vocational skills, 9to5Mac reported.
Economists said that if the Apple devices production moves back to the US, the "manufacturing jobs done in China with human labor could be lost to machines." Analysts even say that moving production in the US is not actually an issue but it is more about the availability of the right skills.
Meanwhile, moving Apple devices production in the US is not the only thing in question under Trump's possible economic policy. Last Monday, the Chinese government warned the US government's plans to put 45 percent tariff on Chinese imports, saying that it will only affect the sales of the iPhone.