Since Donald Trump wants Apple to make iPhones in the U.S., he focuses on Steve Jobs’ answer to Barack Obama: “Those jobs…”
U.S. President Donald Trump has redoubled his efforts by imposing extraordinary tariffs on the country to bid to bring manufacturing back to the United States. With China’s huge tariffs reaching huge tariffs, companies like Apple may be forced to transfer their manufacturing units to the United States. Ultimately, the White House expects that these tariffs will put pressure on companies like Apple to produce popular products including U.S. iPhones.
Even if some iPhone manufacturing sectors are moved from China to countries such as Vietnam and India, China remains the largest base for Apple to make smartphones and other devices. Donald Trump said on Sunday that he would impose separate tariffs on smartphone imports and cause fear. His vision is clear, and the US president wants companies like Apple to make iPhones in the United States.
But is this even possible?
Steve Jobs warns Barack Obama
Making an iPhone in the United States may not be as easy as it sounds. An old New York Times report in 2012 explained exactly why.
The New York Times report caught the eye, which revealed a candid conversation between Apple founder Steve Jobs and then-President Barack Obama, where the late Tech Titan explained to leaders why we may never be able to make iPhones again.
At a private dinner held in February 2011 a few months before Steve Jobs died in October of that year, the president asked him: “What does it take to make an iPhone in the United States?”
“Why can’t this job go home?” Obama asked Jobs.
The founder of Apple has a blunt response to Obama’s questions. “These jobs haven’t come back,” according to the New York Times cited a guest.
The report said Apple executives at the time believed that foreign workers, not those in the U.S., had better flexibility, diligence and industrial skills.
Why can’t Apple make iPhones in us?
According to the Associated Press report, the inhibitory effects of Apple’s transfer of its production at home include complex supply chains established in China in the 1990s. Building a new factory in the United States will take years and billions of dollars, then face with Apple’s economic power three times the price of iPhone, threatening sales of torpedo products.
If Donald Trump announces tariffs on smartphones, Apple is widely expected to eventually raise prices for iPhones and other popular products, as Silicon Valley’s supply chains are very concentrated in China, India and other overseas markets, trapped in the firefighting of an increasing number of trade wars.
Apple has pledged $500 billion to invest and add 20,000 jobs in the U.S. over the next four years. The promise is a response to Trump’s $350 billion investment commitment in his first semester when his iPhone was exempted from Chinese tariffs.
