During Trump’s last term, Cook raised a successful “charm offensive” which obtained pricing exemptions without giving in to Trump’s demand to build iphones in the United States, CNBC reported, and it probably bet that the recent commitment of Apple’s $ 500 billion will lead to similar results, even if Apple never delivers an iPhone of the US iPhone.
In 2017, Trump announced that Apple Foxconn’s partner built three “great beautiful plants” in the United States and said they would be Apple factories, CNBC reported. But the pandemic disrupted the construction, and most of these plans have been abandoned, with a single installation not briefly used to make facial masks, not Apple products. In 2019, Apple undertook to build a Texas factory that Trump did a tour. While Trump insisted that an iPhone manufactured in the United States was on the horizon due to Apple moving business in the United States, this factory is committed to assembling the MacBook Pro, noted CNBC.
Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring suggested that Apple could “engage in small volume production in the United States (Homepod? Airtags?)” To guarantee an exemption in 2025, rather than committing to building iphones, CNBC reported.
Although it may look like a proven game plan for Cook, Apple’s logistics probably never was so complicated. However, analysts have told Fortune that experienced logistics brains understand that flexibility is priority, and Cook has already shown that it can anticipate Trump movements by storing iphones and redirecting iPhones in the United States through its factory in India.
While Trump is negotiating with China, Apple hopes that around 35 million iPhones it makes each year in India can “cover a large part of its needs in the United States,” said Bloomberg. These movements have said analysts, prove that Cook can be man for work when it comes to directing Apple in the chaos of the trade war.
But to follow global demand – sell more than 220 million iphones per year – Apple will have trouble distancing itself quickly from China, where there is an abundant talent to develop production which, according to Apple, does not exist in the United States. For example, CNBC noted that Foxconn hired 50,000 additional workers last fall in its largest China factory just to build enough iphones to meet demand during the last launches in September.
While Apple remains dependent on China, Cook will probably have to stay at the table, looking for more user -friendly conditions on both sides to ensure that its business is not upset for years.
“We can imagine it, if there is a kind of great affair between us and China to come in the next year or two,” said Friedman, “Tim Cook could as soon as anyone plays an intermediate role.”
