Apple boosts US investment to $600 billion, Trump touts win on tariffs
The new commitment brings Apple's total planned U.S. investment to $600 billion over the next four years. Earlier this year, the company had pledged $500 billion and the creation of 20,000 new jobs.
Trump said the latest move reflects his push to bring global companies "back home." "Companies like Apple, they're coming home. They're all coming home," he told reporters, shortly after Apple CEO Tim Cook presented him with a U.S.-made souvenir.
"This is a significant step toward the ultimate goal of ensuring that iPhones sold in America also are made in America," Trump added.
Cook said many iPhone components, such as semiconductors, Face ID modules, and glass, are already made domestically, but acknowledged that full assembly "will remain overseas for a while."
Though sizable, Apple's new pledge mirrors its past spending patterns and echoes commitments made during both the Biden administration and Trump's first term.
In May, Trump threatened Apple with a 25 percent tariff on overseas-made products, reversing earlier exemptions on electronics. The trade war with China has already cost Apple $800 million in the June quarter alone.
"Today is a good step in the right direction for Apple, and it helps get on Trump's good side after what appears to be a tension-filled few months," said Daniel Ives, analyst at Wedbush Securities.
Apple's follow-through on past promises has faced scrutiny. A Texas plant Cook toured with Trump in 2019 had been producing computers since 2013 and has since shifted production to Thailand.
Despite political pressure, analysts say assembling iPhones in the U.S. remains impractical due to high labor costs and complex global supply chains. "The announcement is a savvy solution to the president's demand," said Nancy Tengler, CEO of Laffer Tengler Investments.
Partners in Apple's new U.S. investment push include Corning, Applied Materials, Texas Instruments, GlobalFoundries, Broadcom, and Samsung. Apple said Samsung will supply chips from its Texas plant, while GlobalWafers will also provide silicon wafers from Texas.
Apple shares closed up five percent on August 6. Corning gained nearly four percent in extended trading, and Applied Materials rose almost two percent.
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Winnipeg Free Press
19 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
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CBC
20 minutes ago
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Canada News.Net
23 minutes ago
- Canada News.Net
Why Trump wants Putin in Alaska and not anywhere else
The choice of Americas northern frontier is as much about politics as it is about geography The choice of Alaska as the venue for the August 15, 2025, bilateral summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin carries a rare blend of symbolism. It reaches deep into the past, reflects the current geopolitical balance, and hints at the contours of future US-Russia relations. From the standpoint of historical memory, there is hardly another place in the United States that so clearly embodies the spirit of neighborliness and mutually beneficial cooperation lost during the Cold War. From 1737 until 1867, this vast, sparsely populated land was known as Russian America - a semi-exclave of the Russian Empire, separated from its Eurasian heartland yet sharing a border with another state. Tsar Alexander II's decision to sell Alaska to the United States for $7.2 million was one of the most debated diplomatic transactions of the 19th century. 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Even today, Alaska remains the "most Russian" of US states: home to Old Believers - descendants of 19th-century settlers seeking religious freedom - with functioning Orthodox churches and place names like Nikolaevsk, Voznesensk, and Upper and Lower Russian Lakes, linked by the Russian River. But the choice of Alaska is more than a nod to history; it is also a political calculation. Trump clearly has no intention of sharing the spotlight with intermediaries such as Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Türkiye, or Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the United Arab Emirates and one of the most influential figures in Middle Eastern politics. Both men have played high-profile roles as international brokers, but their involvement would inevitably shift the tone and priorities of the summit. Trump has chosen the most geographically remote state in the union - thousands of miles from any Euro-Atlantic capital - to underline his distance both from his Democratic opponents at home and from NATO allies who, acting in Kiev's interests, will seek to undermine any potential breakthroughs. There is also a practical side: Alaska's low population density makes it easier for security services to minimize the risk of terrorist attacks or staged provocations, while sidestepping the legal complications posed by the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant. In 2002, the United States withdrew its signature from the Rome Statute and it does not recognize the ICC's jurisdiction on its soil. There is another crucial dimension: Alaska is America's only truly Arctic region. In a world where the Trump administration has been exerting pressure on Canada and Greenland to bring them under firmer US influence, the high north is becoming a strategic theater. 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Even Western analysts have called such a deal a diplomatic victory for Moscow, noting that the unoccupied territory Russia would gain would be four times the size of the areas it might cede. Alaska is a fitting place for such discussions: its own history is a vivid reminder that territorial ownership is not an immutable historical-geographic constant, but a political and diplomatic variable shaped by the agreements of great powers in specific historical moments. The summit in Alaska is more than just a meeting between two leaders. It is a return to the logic of direct dialogue without intermediaries, a reminder of historic ties, and a test of whether Moscow and Washington are willing to work together where their interests not only intersect, but could align. Alaska's story began as Russian, continued as American - and now has the chance to become a shared chapter, if both sides choose to see it as an opportunity rather than a threat.
