by Jason Snell
Cook tries to find an off-ramp
The New York Times’s DealBook newsletter published a smart piece about how Tim Cook might placate Donald Trump regarding his insistence that the iPhone be made in America when it can’t actually be, anytime soon if ever:
Cook could announce plans to begin assembling some iPhones in the U.S. within three years, and lay out a detailed road map to make more of them… That would give Trump a tangible win: Apple devices would effectively say, “Assembled in the USA.”…
The analogy in manufacturing, often made by industry experts, is that “American-made” often means “American-assembled,” using global components. This is a crucial distinction and, depending on Trump’s mood, a palatable one.
“Depending on Trump’s mood” is doing a lot of work there, but yes, if you can’t make iPhones in the U.S., can you perhaps come up with a program to create U.S. factory jobs for last-stage assembly that would allow the White House to declare victory?
On top of that, perhaps the smart move is for Apple to also announce an investment in getting U.S. workers up to speed so that more manufacturing can be brought home:
Apple could also announce a public-private partnership to invest in skilled workers in the U.S…. “Manufacturing costs and skilled labor to produce the iPhone are the real obstacles. It’s not just a Trump threat and a snap of the fingers that’s going to make this happen,” [Wedbush Securities analyst Dan] Ives said. “The U.S. government needs to play a role to make this herculean strategic move a reality.”
If we accept that Apple can’t make iPhones in the U.S. anytime soon (and every expert agrees that it’s impossible), this sounds like a reasonable way forward. But if the President of the United States refuses to accept that reality, it’s unclear if there’s any move Tim Cook can make that will satisfy him.