Trump is also living a fantasy dream too! Even if Apple did, I bet it would most be ran by robots so in the end, very little jobs would be created and most of the parts would come from China anyways so what different does it make? Apple should spend Billions to create 50-100 jobs? Just doesn't make business sense.
You have a popular misconception. Most of the parts don't come from China. China is largely an assembly point. See, for example, this artlcle
And no, it doesn't take "billions" to build a manufacturing plant of this scale to assemble the MacPro. It may well be cheaper to contract out the manufacture of the MacPro, but no it doesn't take billions. Apple invested 100 million in the Austin plant so it could produce Mac Pros.
Apple obviously has concluded they won't make enough of the new MacPros to make it worth the trouble to keep manufacturing in Austin. Instead, they are going to throw it to one of their contract manufacturers/assemblers, Quanta. Quanta also has a plant in Ireland. You heard it first here, don't be surprised if Quanta assembles the MacPro in Ireland to avoid the tariffs.
Finally, one small thing you are forgetting--the existing MacPro is made in Texas! LOL, so you see it's entirely possible to assemble it there.
It doesn't matter if you support the President or not. China will not blink. There have been two extensions with no results. This is a matter of national pride for China and they will not blink. So here we are waiting for a real resolution that will not happen.
No one knows the outcome. One thing we do know is that the tariffs have hastened Apple and many other companies long over due diversification. It's a great thing that Apple and others have begun to move manufacturing out of China. It benefits everyone to not have these major companies so dependent on one country, especially a communist dictatorship. China is undoubtedly sweating it as the manufacturing that is being moved elsewhere will not be coming back, so there will be a permanent loss of jobs. Companies will also be more hesitant to locate future factories there.
Tim makes a fair point, regardless China is busy cracking skulls in Hong Hong, ready and willing to attack Taiwan, ramming and ditching old men in there fishing boats in the Philippines after they have weaponized and build military islands on coral reefs.. Tariffs is just the beginning of a bigger problem right ? Tim please note why the days of MadE IN China are rapidly waning and companies are fleeing like rats on a burning ship.. Get the ^&cuk out apple as fast as you can...
Obviously Apple is not going to help American manufacturing workers and manufacturing engineers without a push. Glad that Trump is doing that.
Of the entire product line the Pro may be the best model to take a bit of a margin hit on to do that.
China did not grow its infrastructure over 2-3 years and neither will Texas. Got to start somewhere. This is a generational shift. Without a command economy like China it’s gonna be harder but needs to be done. The only government levers we have to help manufacturing is NASA and military purchasing.
The major thing standing in the way of US labor cost is the cost of housing. That’s another topic
Unfortunately the proper push for Apple or any other manufacturer coming to the US is to development the environment ie. Infrastructure, supply chain, workers. Apple is but an end user of those necessary services to produce their products. As such, slapping a tariff is pointless but a show for ignorant voters. Where's Trump and govt's concurrent infrastructure improvements? Where is the increased worker pool? Where's the housing as you say? Where's the government support for the whole supply chain? What Trump is doing is but a show for those electors who don't understand the basics of the economy and is letting US corporations and consumers (added cost of re-locations and tariffs) to pay for his re-election campaign. Utterly pathetic!
As far as manufacturing is concerned, I've personally never bought into the argument that China has the infrastructure and we don't/can't/won't. If the factories did come back and the need was there, the infrastructure would happen quite quickly because there are plenty of companies looking for such opportunities. If Tesla can build cars in the U.S., Apple (and others) can build computers in the U.S., even if they're just doing assembly with foreign-made parts. Having said that, in the Summer of 2017, U.S. manufacturing output hit an all time record. But the jobs weren't there because so much of manufacturing is automated today. So I think it's a bit naive to believe that if factories did come back to the U.S. that they wouldn't be highly automated anyway (especially in the tech sector) and not that many new jobs would result. Any politician of any party who claims they can bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. is a liar.
Supply chain take decades to build, along with the necessary infrastructure from roads, electricity, water, logistics to global export. Putting aside the cost of labour, utilities and transport, what I know is that the cost of shipping an item from the US to Australia is a multiple of those from the UK/Europe/Asia. Quite simply, the US has moved so high up the economic chain that these labour intensive and lower value productions are just not economical there in the US. These seemingly minor issues take more than billions and time to turn around, something that the US just no longer have. US has moved up the value chain and is suited to the high tech high margin manufacturing as well as knowledge based service industry. Trying to go back down is but going again the undeniable current of economic evolution and shooting oneself in the foot. As a matter of fact, China has also moved up the value chain the government is embracing the change and shedding low value labour intensive manufacturings to other developing countries. Their Made in China 2025 (MIC2025) initiative is exactly that. For the US to not focusing most of its energy on advancing the technological core base but wasting time on going backwards is what's make America second rate. 5G is one example. Where's the federal government's guidance and push in this technology but leaving it fragmented and haphazard in the private sector? Say no more of US's current state! Trump's sensationalistic trade war, 'bring back to America' and border wall are but show pieces that panders to the irrational anxiety of section of the American society, ones that do nothing to address the fundamental competitiveness problem of the country.
If Tim Cook is claiming that China is not providing cheaper labor than here, but rather that their skill at manufacturing is beyond our own, then he has undone his own argument. Now Apple's shareholders and customers will foot the bill for his slip of the tongue. Cook should have been honest. China has superior manufacturing facilities that were built solely because they have cheap labor. One thing be got the other. If they are no longer cheaper than US workers, I can see no meaningful reason to keep production there at the expense of American workers. If, like Cook claims, all things are equal in cost, then bring those jobs home. We have more engineers with degrees than they do. But that won't happen because the truth of is that the labor in China really is cents on the dollar relative to the US, and indeed Tim Cook is just lying when he claims otherwise. Those people in China putting together our phones have no education and are treated like slave labor. That's the real reason they have Apple's business; they're dirt cheap and the manufacturing plants were built in China to accommodate that endless supply of cheap non-unionized labor.
Build more factories in Taiwan, Vietnam, or really anywhere other than China.
China's record on the environment as well as human rights is just absolutely dreadful.
If I were a US exec, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing my new factory in Shanghai is helping out the regime in Beijing.
Guess what happened when China rejected taking all the garbage of the US and other developed countries? Every one of them suffered with piles and piles of unmanageable garbage! Stop accusing China on the environment when our garbage and contaminations from the goods we use everyday are all there in China. Shameful to make such accusations!
An example of you being a US exec as in the form of Trump is in office. Good luck to America!
It is a bit of a surprise that Apple is so politically inept that they moved production from Texas. They had 3 years to plan the Mac Pro production and should have planned for it.
Another surprise is that what truly makes America great again is for local businesses to pay Washington a 25% tax on computers. Why stop at 25%? Why not go all MAMA - Make America Mennonite Again! But while you're busy taxing your companies we in the EU promise to do the same (to your companies), while our businesses gain access to the latest of your technology. Much appreciated
Generally speaking: American workers are fat and lazy and American executives greedy b's who only care about their next quarterly bonus and the value fo their stock options.
America was built by hungry workers working for committed, dedicated owner/managers with vision and long range goals -- From Carnegie to Jobs. When we get back to that, the jobs will return. Not before."
WOW!, if case you've just awaken from a 10 year coma America has entered another "gilded age" filled with "robber barons" a small percentage of the population owing 90% of the wealth. Oh those good old days of child labor, no workers rights and little to no social safety net for the working poor.
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What you say is true -- I agree with it. But there is one BIG thing missing from it: While today we have a bigger separation of the rich and poor than anytime in the past 100 years, unlike the Carnegies, Edisons, Westinghouses, Fords, Morgans, etc., (with a few notable exceptions) today's 1% contribute nothing to society. They don't create anything, build anything or contribute anything. The 'robber barons' of 100-150 years ago largely started from modest backgrounds and accumulated wealth by contributing to society -- steel, cars, railroads, electricity, etc...
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https://www.lifewire.com/where-is-the-iphone-made-1999503
And no, it doesn't take "billions" to build a manufacturing plant of this scale to assemble the MacPro. It may well be cheaper to contract out the manufacture of the MacPro, but no it doesn't take billions. Apple invested 100 million in the Austin plant so it could produce Mac Pros.
Apple obviously has concluded they won't make enough of the new MacPros to make it worth the trouble to keep manufacturing in Austin. Instead, they are going to throw it to one of their contract manufacturers/assemblers, Quanta. Quanta also has a plant in Ireland. You heard it first here, don't be surprised if Quanta assembles the MacPro in Ireland to avoid the tariffs.
Finally, one small thing you are forgetting--the existing MacPro is made in Texas! LOL, so you see it's entirely possible to assemble it there.
No one knows the outcome. One thing we do know is that the tariffs have hastened Apple and many other companies long over due diversification. It's a great thing that Apple and others have begun to move manufacturing out of China. It benefits everyone to not have these major companies so dependent on one country, especially a communist dictatorship. China is undoubtedly sweating it as the manufacturing that is being moved elsewhere will not be coming back, so there will be a permanent loss of jobs. Companies will also be more hesitant to locate future factories there.
Well, that was an entertaining thread, especially given the right ‘spike’ as it were. Thank y’all.
An example of you being a US exec as in the form of Trump is in office. Good luck to America!
Another surprise is that what truly makes America great again is for local businesses to pay Washington a 25% tax on computers. Why stop at 25%? Why not go all MAMA - Make America Mennonite Again! But while you're busy taxing your companies we in the EU promise to do the same (to your companies), while our businesses gain access to the latest of your technology. Much appreciated
But there is one BIG thing missing from it: While today we have a bigger separation of the rich and poor than anytime in the past 100 years, unlike the Carnegies, Edisons, Westinghouses, Fords, Morgans, etc., (with a few notable exceptions) today's 1% contribute nothing to society. They don't create anything, build anything or contribute anything. The 'robber barons' of 100-150 years ago largely started from modest backgrounds and accumulated wealth by contributing to society -- steel, cars, railroads, electricity, etc...