Apple CEO Tim Cook will join President Donald Trump at the White House Wednesday afternoon to announce a new $100 billion pledge to invest in the United States, according to a report from CNBC. Dubbed the “American Manufacturing Program,” Cook’s appearance comes on the same day that Trump has pledged to raise tariffs on goods from India to 50%, though it’s still unclear if Apple’s goods manufactured in that country will be exempt from the historically high rate.
“Today’s announcement with Apple is another win for our manufacturing industry that will simultaneously help reshore the production of critical components to protect America’s economic and national security,” a White House spokesperson told Bloomberg in a statement.
Apple has shifted more of its production to India in recent years. That shift has had a measurable impact on the smartphone market in the U.S., making India the source of most phones purchased in the U.S. for the first time as of last week, according to Bloomberg. Apple’s competitors, like Samsung, have also been moving production out of China. Many other electronics made by Apple, including MacBooks, iPads and Apple Watches, are now made in Vietnam.
Cook said on an earnings call that “the vast majority” of iPhones sold in the U.S. come from India, but that may not be enough for Trump, who wants those phones built in the U.S. The president said back in May, “I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday. I said to him, ‘My friend, I treated you very good. You’re coming here with $500 billion, but now I hear you’re building all over India.’ I don’t want you building in India.”
Apple announced a new $500 billion investment in the U.S. in April, and this new $100 billion commitment will be on top of that, according to Bloomberg. But Apple doesn’t plan on manufacturing any iPhones in the U.S., something that no doubt irks the president, who wants everything to be made in America. Trump has previously threatened a 25% tariff on all phones imported from other countries.
Members of the Trump regime have received criticism for imagining a world where everything is produced in the U.S., like when Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appeared on Face the Nation the weekend after Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement in April.
Lutnick also seemed to suggest that most of the jobs coming back to the U.S. would be for robots and was ridiculed in a series of AI videos showing Americans in sweatshops. But the Commerce Secretary later insisted the jobs wouldn’t just be for robots.
Trump signed an executive order slapping India with an additional 25% tariff as punishment for buying Russian oil, which is scheduled to take effect later this month. That’s on top of another 25% tariff on Indian goods that will start Thursday. Trump has said he’s trying to punish countries that are doing business with Russia in an effort to stop the war in Ukraine. But so far, nothing has changed, and it’s unclear whether adding a whopping 25% tariff on India will do anything to end that conflict.
