Why Apple doesn’t make iPhones in America – and probably won’t

In 2011, then-President Barack Obama pressed Apple CEO Steve Jobs on what it would take to bring iPhone production to the United States, according to The New York Times.

In 2011, then-President Barack Obama pressed Apple CEO Steve Jobs on what it would take to bring iPhone production to the United States, according to The New York Times. Fourteen years later, President Donald Trump is resurfacing that question to current Apple CEO Tim Cook – and the stakes are a lot higher. Trump threatened a hefty 25% tariff against Apple and other smartphone companies unless they manufacture phones sold in the US stateside. “I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhone’s that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Friday. “If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the U.S.” Earlier this month, Apple CEO Tim Cook said he expected the majority of US-bound iPhones to be shipped from India. Reviving US manufacturing has been a tentpole goal of Trump’s presidency. Within the first three months of his second term, he went on a tariff blitz, promising to impose levies on nearly every product made abroad in an effort to boost jobs in the US and rebalance what he saw as unfair practices by America’s trading partners. But experts who spoke with CNN said making iPhones in the United States would upend the way Apple builds its most lucrative product. Moving iPhone production to the US would mean shifting away from countries like China and India that have the highly specialized workforce and skills needed to produce the millions of iPhones that Apple ships each year. The result could mean price hikes or design changes for the iPhone, some analysts estimate.