Trump believes iPhones can be made in the US, says White House | Hacker News Reader

Trump believes iPhones can be made in the US, says White House

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20 pointspseudolus15 comments

It definitely can be made in the US, the question is how long it would take for that to be feasible, and how much the resulting phone would cost. I suspect the process of adapting to these tariffs would greatly outlive the tariffs themselves, and everyone knows it. At most they can last until after the mid-terms, but even that's probably overstating things.

So no, Apple is going to move manufacturing to the US with all the costs and downsides, for a policy that can't last.

I believe Apple could be a Korean or Irish company. If I were Tim Cook, I would be looking to uproot the company to avoid dealing with a micromanaging government. It's not worth it.

I believe the days of Apple being a prestige business are over. What did they forge their halo out of anyways? A San Bernadino standoff, some whitepapers and a few snarky ads. Tim Cook pushed hard on hardware margins by outsourcing and then doubled down on profit extraction from developers and publishing partners. Now users are expected to foot the service bill for unprofitable ventures like TV+ and failed products like Vision Pro. The goodwill is gone.

In 2010, Apple felt like a hardware company obligated to design software. In 2025, they feel like a software company obligated to make hardware. With the DMA/DSA barrelling down the tracks it doesn't really matter where Apple is headquartered - governments will regulate you out of certain behavior. They have to reform their business pretty radically if they want to remain profitable, the old economics can't keep limping along like they used to.

Moving Apple to Korea or Ireland won't let it escape US tariffs. Tariffs are based on where the item is manufactured not where the company is headquartered.

AFAIK currently there's only one smartphone made in US: https://puri.sm/products/liberty-phone/

You mean assembled in the US, made from imported parts sourced from all over the world?

I'm not sure. They seem to have the official "Made in USA" label.

I mean, if it can be made in India, it can be made in the US. But not in the next couple of years. And then there's the issue of imported components, especially the camera cluster - the most expensive part of the phone.

Just because something can be made in the US doesn't mean it makes sense to. If Americans make the same things as the rest of the world, why would Americans continue to be wealthier? Think about that!

For America to continue to be wealthier than other nations, we can't make the same things that others make. We have to make things others don't know how to make, and charge a premium. That's the way to wealth. Let other countries make t-shirts, sneakers and even cars. Anyone can make those things. We will buy their stuff low and sell our stuff high.

So what should we make and sell for a premium? Boeing airplanes, GE & Pratt & Whitney jet engines, Satellites and aerospace systems, NVIDIA chips, Heavy machinery (e.g., Caterpillar, Deere), Automation and robotics components, Immunotherapy and gene therapy, DNA sequencing and gene editing tools, Implantable devices, Robotic surgery systems (e.g., Intuitive Surgical's da Vinci), Diagnostic imaging machines, Cloud infrastructure and Enterprise software, Hollywood movies, Advanced materials (DuPont, Dow) and so on. In other words, things other countries don't know how to make, or aren't as good as us.

What wee don't want is sweatshops paying peanuts.

Yeah, instead we should just print money and hang that debt around our kids and grandkids necks, all while further deindustrializing. That's a bold strategy breadwinner, let's see how it plays out for your grandkids in the long term. "Wealth" isn't the only metric of a strength of a nation, especially when you can just literally print money. You kinda _have to_ also make stuff. Selling $1 Chinese chotchkes for $5 is not a long term viable economic model for a superpower.

You do have to make stuff. That doesn't mean bring sweatshops here. Read my post before replying.

Do you know how many Chinese parts go into a Boeing plane? You do need to make them here, too. "Sweatshops" is a red herring. There's no way there's more than $10 of labor per pair of shoes. If we survived Biden's $15/lb beef, we'll survive this too.

You do realise that our debt comes from absurd govt spending and not the lack of nike sweatshops right?

Trump tax cuts for the wealthy is a significant source of our debt. There is more of that coming.

Yes. DOGE is taking care of that, too.

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