In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, President Donald Trump said that Apple CEO Tim Cook has promised him that Apple would build “three big plants, beautiful plants” in the US. He did not mention any potential locations or specify when those plants would be built.
“I spoke to [Mr. Cook], he’s promised me three big plants—big, big, big. I said you know, Tim, unless you start building your plants in this country, I won’t consider my administration an economic success. He called me, and he said they are going forward.”
Before his inauguration, Trump often criticized Apple for building its devices in China and said that he would get the most profitable company in the world to build its products in the US.
As part of the interview, the president also said that unemployed people in states like New York should move to states like Wisconsin and Iowa that are expanding their manufacturing capabilities.
“You’re going to need people to work in these massive plants. I’m going to start explaining to people: When you have an area that just isn’t working like upper New York state, where people are getting very badly hurt, and then you’ll have another area 500 miles away where you can’t get people, I’m going to explain, you can leave. It’s OK. Don’t worry about your house.”
Apple said in May that it is responsible for the creation of two million jobs in the US and that the iPhone maker was planning to expand that number by creating a $1 billion fund to invest in companies that do advanced manufacturing in the country. The tech giant declined to comment on Trump’s statements.
Source: The Wall Street Journal (paywall), CNN
Update: Foxconn, the Taiwanese manufacturer that closely partners with many electronics companies to produce their goods including Apple, has announced that they will invest $10 billion to build a manufacturing plant in Wisconsin. The firm stated that it should produce 3,000 new jobs with the potential to go up to 13,000. The plant will be completed in 2020.
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