Trump hails additional $100bn Apple investment in US
Donald Trump
will announce an additional $100 million investment by tech giant
Apple
in its US manufacturing network, White House officials said on Wednesday. It comes as Apple tries to avoid
US tariffs
on imports that will impact the cost of iPhones and other products in the US.
The announcement will be seen by the Trump administration as a big victory is his crusade to restore domestic manufacturing.
But the scale of the investment will raise concerns in Irish Government circles about what it might mean for the company's commitment to its Irish manufacturing base, which employs more than 6,000 staff.
The US president is hoping his threat of tariffs on imports will pressure companies to increase manufacturing inside the US, the stated aim of his America First agenda.
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'President Trump's America First economic agenda has secured trillions of dollars in investments that support American jobs and bolster American businesses,' White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement.
'Today's announcement with Apple is another win for our manufacturing industry that will simultaneously help reshore the production of critical components to protect America's economic and national security,' he said.
In February, Apple said it planned to hire an additional 20,000 staff in the US over the next four years, as part of a $500 billion investment in the country during Trump's second term in office, a figure that is now expected to increase to $600 billion.
The company made similar, smaller pledges during the Biden administration and Trump's first term, though it has not yet followed through on some of those promises.
While Apple supports more than 450,000 jobs with thousands of suppliers and partners across 50 states, the president has been concerned at the company's plan to expand its manufacturing footprint in India.
In May, Trump threatened Apple and other phone manufacturers with a 25% tariff on products made outside the United States.
Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Anurag Rana and Andrew Girard said the latest Apple pledge of investment may 'soften the White House's ire' over Apple's heavy reliance on India for iPhone assembly. 'We anticipate Apple will focus on higher-end products, artificial intelligence labs and semiconductor engineering in the US, rather than mass-produced lower-end phones and accessories.'
Mr Trump's announcement, which was reported earlier by Bloomberg, will include the creation of what the White House is calling the 'American Manufacturing Programme', which will focus on bringing more of Apple's supply chain and advanced manufacturing to the United States.
The US president is hoping his threat of tariffs on imports will pressure companies to increase manufacturing inside the US, the stated aim of his America First agenda.
The Apple announcement comes on the day that Mr Trump signed an executive order imposing an additional 25 per cent tariff on imports from India which, he said, was due to New Delhi's purchases of Russian oil.
The order said the 25 per cent levies would be added to existing duties imposed on Indian imports in a move that will raise tensions with prime minister Narendra Modi's government.
India has failed to reach a trade deal with Washington and was already facing 25 per cent tariffs on its exports to the US before Mr Trump's announcement.
A 15 per cent tariff on most EU exports to the US is scheduled to come into force on Thursday.
Both the European Commission and the While House had confirmed previously that the 15 per cent rate would include pharmaceuticals and semiconductors.
However, comments by the US president on Tuesday when he warned of tariffs on pharmaceuticals of up to 250 per cent over coming years, naming Ireland as a target alongside China, will cause concern in Dublin. – Additional reporting Bloomberg, New York Times, Financial Times limited
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