The White House has doubled down on Donald Trump's claim that Apple's flagship iPhones will be manufactured in the United States, despite skepticism from analysts and the company itself. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday that Trump believes a recently announced $500bn investment by Apple, combined with tariffs on imports, will push the tech giant to shift production from Asia to America.
Trump reinforced this message on his Truth Social platform, urging companies to relocate to the US and promising zero tariffs and fast-tracked approvals. However, experts point to longstanding statements from Apple executives, including CEO Tim Cook and the late Steve Jobs, that the US lacks the skilled workforce needed for such a move. Jobs noted in 2010 that Apple required 700,000 factory workers in China, supported by 30,000 on-site engineers, a scale unattainable in America.
Cook echoed this in 2017, emphasising that China's advantage lies not in cheap labour but in the depth of precision engineering skills. 'In the US you could have a meeting of tooling engineers, and I'm not sure we could fill the room. In China you could fill multiple football fields,' he said. Analysts also question the feasibility, with Laura Martin of Needham telling CNBC that shifting production would take years, noting it took India three years to reach just 14% of iPhone volumes.
Tariff anxieties have already impacted Apple's market value, with shares falling around 31% this year, and Microsoft overtaking Apple as the world's most valuable company on Wednesday.
