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Egypt Independent
4 days ago
- Business
- Egypt Independent
Why Apple doesn't make iPhones in America – and probably won't
CNN — In 2011, then-President Barack Obama pressed Apple CEO Steve Jobs on what it would take to bring iPhone production to the United States, according to In 2011, then-President Barack Obama pressed Apple CEO Steve Jobs on what it would take to bring iPhone production to the United States, according to The New York Times Fourteen years later, President Donald Trump is resurfacing that question to current Apple CEO Tim Cook – and the stakes are a lot higher. Trump threatened a hefty 25 percent tariff against Apple and other smartphone companies unless they manufacture phones sold in the US stateside. 'I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhone's that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else,' Trump posted on Truth Social on Friday. 'If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25 percent must be paid by Apple to the U.S.' Earlier this month, Apple CEO Tim Cook said he expected the majority of US-bound iPhones to be shipped from India. Reviving US manufacturing has been a tentpole goal of Trump's presidency. Within the first three months of his second term, he went on a tariff blitz, promising to impose levies on nearly every product made abroad in an effort to boost jobs in the US and rebalance what he saw as unfair practices by America's trading partners. But experts who spoke with CNN said making iPhones in the United States would upend the way Apple builds its most lucrative product. Moving iPhone production to the US would mean shifting away from countries like China and India that have the highly specialized workforce and skills needed to produce the millions of iPhones that Apple ships each year. The result could mean price hikes or design changes for the iPhone, some analysts estimate. 'It just fundamentally doesn't work,' said Dipanjan Chatterjee, vice president and principal analyst at market research firm Forrester. Apple did not respond to CNN's request for comment on whether it plans to shift iPhone production to the US. China already has a sprawling system of plants tailored specifically for assembling electronics. Foxconn, Apple's longtime iPhone assembly partner, employs 900,000 people in its peak season, although it's unclear how much of that employment occurs in China and is related to iPhone work. Workers live in dormitories, making it easier to shift production plans with little notice, as Chatterjee points out. Production processes are highly specialized depending on the product; it's not a 'one size fits all' approach that's easy to replicate. 'The expertise to make each of the components is something that has to be worked on for a long period of time,' said David Marcotte, senior vice president at international market research company Kantar. There's also the question of whether there's enough demand for factory jobs in America. Manufacturing has been on the decline in the United States, with only 8 percent of American workers holding jobs in that sector as of earlier this year compared to roughly 26 percent in 1970, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, And a lot has changed since 1970. Carolyn Lee, executive director of the Manufacturing Institute, previously told CNN that 'the job has very much changed' and that modern manufacturing roles involve skills like coding and data analytics. Apple said in February that it plans to invest $500 billion in growing its US footprint over the next four years, which will go towards boosting its research and development efforts, opening a new facility to manufacture servers to support its Apple Intelligence software features and launching a Detroit academy to teach companies about smart manufacturing techniques and AI. Trump has declared this investment – along with a $100 billion commitment from Taiwan-based chipmaker TSMC to expand in the US – a political win and a step towards onshoring more tech production. But Apple's academy will be for small-to medium-sized businesses, according to Apple's press release, not training workers or building infrastructure to produce iPhones the way it is done in China or India. Cook has acknowledged the gap in labor required to produce iPhones in the US. Speaking at a Fortune Magazine event in 2017, he described the manufacturing environment in China as providing a combination of 'craftsman' skills, 'sophisticated robotics' and 'the computer science world.' 'That intersection, which is very rare to find anywhere, that kind of skill, which is very important for our business because of the precision and quality level that we like,' he said. Mohit Kumar, CEO and founder of smart ring maker Ultrahuman, has firsthand experience shifting production of a tech product to the US from India. Ultrahuman began producing its finger-worn health tracker in Texas in November after partnering with electronics manufacturer SVtronics. The smart ring company automated more tasks to avoid higher labor costs in the United States and hired workers that were trained in multiple steps of the process – such as casting and polishing rings – rather than just one of those steps, he told CNN. The topic came up in April, with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick telling CNBC that Cook said Apple needs 'robotic arms' to build iPhones in the United States at the same scale and precision as its facilities abroad. Patrick Moorhead, founder and CEO of analysis firm Moor Insights & Strategy, thinks Apple could feasibly shift some iPhone production to the US in five years. But that would involve automating some processes to account for the skill gap in America compared to China and India, he says. That could also involve changing the iPhone's design to accommodate more automation, such as changing how certain components are glued together. Many of Apple's suppliers are based in China, so transitioning to the US even just for assembly would mean shifting further away from critical components. Dan Ives, global head of technology research for Wedbush Securities, told CNN last month via email that an estimated 90 percent of the iPhone's production process takes place in China, although he says that number is closer to 40 percent now that Apple has shifted more production to India. He has also estimated that making iPhones in the United States could triple the price of the device. Apple is faced with a tough decision either way, says Forrester's Chatterjee, despite Cook's meeting with Trump last week and the $1 million donation he made to Trump's inauguration, according to Axios. 'Because neither can you realistically, from an economic standpoint, bring production to the US, nor is it really tenable in this climate to say, 'No, I won't do that,'' he said. 'So you've got to walk that fine line, that tightrope, for as long as you can.'
Time of India
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Trump effect? Americans applying for British citizenship break 2004 record
A record number of Americans applied for British citizenship in the first quarter of 2025, surpassing all previous figures since records began in 2004, according to data released by the UK Home Office. Between January and March, 1,931 U.S. citizens submitted applications — a 12% increase from the previous quarter and the highest ever recorded in a single quarter. This surge follows a similar spike during the final months of 2024, coinciding with Donald Trump 's re-election. In total, 6,618 Americans applied for British citizenship in the 12 months leading to March 2025 — the most in a single year since records began. Play Video Pause Skip Backward Skip Forward Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration 0:00 Loaded : 0% 0:00 Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 1x Playback Rate Chapters Chapters Descriptions descriptions off , selected Captions captions settings , opens captions settings dialog captions off , selected Audio Track Picture-in-Picture Fullscreen This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Text Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Caption Area Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Drop shadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Harry Potter Actress Stuns Fans With Grown-up Pics Reportingly Undo The upward trend also extended to permanent settlement. In 2024, more than 5,500 Americans were granted settled status in the UK, giving them the right to live, work, and study in the country indefinitely — a 20% increase from the previous year and another record high. Immigration experts link the growing interest to concerns over U.S. political stability. Live Events 'There's definitely been an uptick in inquiries from U.S. nationals,' Muhunthan Paramesvaran, senior immigration lawyer at Wilsons Solicitors in London, told the New York Times. 'People who were already here may be thinking, 'I want the option of dual citizenship in case I don't want to go back to the U.S.'' Others see the trend as part of a broader shift. Zeena Luchowa, a partner at Laura Devine Immigration, noted increased inquiries not just from American citizens but also U.S. residents of other nationalities. 'The queries we're seeing are less about citizenship and more about long-term relocation,' she said, citing the evolving political landscape in the U.S. as a key factor. The last major spike in American applications came in 2020, during Trump's first term and the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, over 5,800 Americans renounced their U.S. citizenship in just six months — nearly triple the total for all of 2019, according to Bambridge Accountants, a firm specializing in cross-border taxation. While interest in British and European relocation is growing, immigration policies are tightening. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer recently announced plans to raise the bar for legal migration and lengthen the wait for citizenship eligibility. Meanwhile, Italy has eliminated the citizenship route through great-grandparents and introduced stricter visa rules for non-EU citizens. Despite these changes, the surge in American applications reflects a broader desire for stability, mobility, and new beginnings abroad.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Can I still tune in to PBS and NPR? What to know after Trump's order to cut funding
President Donald Trump on May 1 signed an executive order to pull federal funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, imperiling America's largest public broadcasters and hundreds of associated local and regional radio and television channels. Trump's decision makes good on weeks of threats from administration officials and Republican lawmakers toward the public media outlets, accusing them of biased reporting. Learn more: Trump signs executive order that aims to cut funding for PBS and NPR The order instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) Board of Directors and all executive departments and agencies to cease direct federal funding for NPR and PBS "to the maximum extent allowed by law" and to "decline to provide future funding." However, the corporation is not a federal agency subject to such directives, putting the efficacy of the order into doubt. The existing board of directors filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Tuesday, April 29, after the president attempted to remove three of the five board members. Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of CPB, released a statement Friday, May 2, criticizing the decision and referring to protections afforded by Congress when it was established over 55 years ago. 'CPB is not a federal executive agency subject to the President's authority," Harrison said. "Congress directly authorized and funded CPB to be a private nonprofit corporation wholly independent of the federal government." The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a private, nonprofit corporation authorized by Congress in 1967 by the Public Broadcasting Act. It was established to "encourage the growth and development of public radio and television broadcasting," asserting public media services are "valuable local community resources" for addressing national concerns and solving local problems, according to the Act. CPB does not produce programming and does not own, operate or control any public broadcasting stations. It helps support the operations of more than 1,500 locally managed and operated public television and radio stations nationwide, its website says, making it the nation's largest source of funding for research, technology and program development for public radio, television and related online services. Each news organization and their partner stations remain fully operational as of Friday, May 2, and leaders of CPB are preparing to challenge the order. Paula Kerger, president and CEO of PBS, called the executive order "blatantly unlawful" in a statement on May 2 and said the organization is "currently exploring all options to allow PBS to continue to serve our member stations and all Americans.' Katherine Maher, NPR's president and CEO, defended the outlet's journalism and reiterated its commitment to editorial independence in the wake of allegations of bias by the Trump administration. "We will vigorously defend our right to provide essential news, information and life-saving services to the American public," she said. "We will challenge this Executive Order using all means available. " Both NPR and PBS have previously said that Trump's effort to cut their funding would disrupt essential media services and have a "devastating impact" on Americans who rely on them for credible local and national news, including during emergencies. The CPB received $525 million in federal funding in 2024. More than 70% of those dollars goes directly to local NPR and PBS stations in the form of Community Service Grants, according to a CPB fact sheet. The majority of funds go to local tv and radio stations, with nearly all content free for anyone to access. NPR receives about 1% of its funding directly from the federal government, according to the outlet. The top 20 most popular NPR-affiliated public radio stations had on average eight million weekly listeners in 2022, Pew Research data shows. PBS reaches 58% of all U.S. television households annually, they report, with more than 130 million people watching on TV. More than 16 million people tune in to PBS' website and apps each month, and another 53 million watch PBS on its Digital Studios platform and on YouTube. This is just the latest assault on media institutions by the Trump administration, preceded by attempts to block the Associated Press from the Oval Office over the president's renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, suing Paramount over a "60 Minutes" interview and a March 14 executive order attempting to dismantle news outlet Voice of America. The Federal Communications Commission is mounting assorted investigations against CBS, ABC, NBC, NPR, and PBS, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, raising concerns they are politically motivated. The Trump administration has labeled multiple institutions in academia and the media industry — from Harvard and Columbia universities to NPR and PBS — as being leftist, Marxist, biased, and woke, and threatened funding cuts. Human rights advocates have raised concerns over free speech and academic freedom. "After a century of gradual expansion of press rights in the United States, the country is experiencing its first significant and prolonged decline in press freedom in modern history," says media watchdog group Reporters Without Borders. "Donald Trump's return to the presidency is greatly exacerbating the situation." Contributing: Reuters Kathryn Palmer is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at kapalmer@ and on X @KathrynPlmr. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump pulls funding from NPR, PBS. Can I still tune in?
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Republican push to cut green tax credits would raise utility bills, new data shows
As House Republicans propose taking a sledgehammer to the green tax credits in Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, new data shows the loss of those incentives could lower some Americans' household income by more than $1,000 a year due to increased utility bills and job losses. Though Donald Trump has called climate spending a 'waste' of money, the data – published by the industry group Clean Energy Buyers Association (Ceba) on Thursday – provides evidence that rescinding them would actually increase expenses for ordinary Americans in red and blue districts alike. The rollback would increase the price of electricity and gas, the report found. And it would lead to job losses and 'economic slowdown', it says. Related: Why is US energy demand soaring – putting climate goals at risk? 'Americans voted to combat the cost-of-living crisis in the 2024 election,' said Rich Powell, CEO of Ceba. 'Now is the time for Congress to incentivize private investment in more sources of low-cost, reliable energy that fuels economic growth and jobs, helps the United States secure energy dominance and independence, and decreases energy costs nationwide.' The new figures, crunched for Ceba by the National Economic Research Associates consulting firm, focus specifically on credits 48E and 45Y, for clean energy investment and production respectively. In a reconciliation package draft this week, the House ways and means committee proposed phasing out these incentives after 2031, and placing many new restrictions on them in the meantime. If the rollbacks proceed as proposed, the new study found, at least 19 states would see the cost of energy increase for both consumers and industry between 2026 to 2032. (More states would probably see similar impacts, but the authors did not examine all 50 'because of the turnaround time for research', Ceba said). New Jersey is the state expected to see the biggest economic losses if the clean energy investment and production credits are repealed, the authors found. There, the authors found the rollback could increase household gas and utility bills by 2.9% and 13.3% respectively. The repeal would also trigger the loss of 22,180 jobs, they found. All told, households across the state would see a stunning $1,040 average loss in annual household income and a $3.24bn decrease in state GDP, the authors wrote. 'As commercial and industrial activity declines, demand for labor and capital falls, leading to wage losses, declining household income, and shrinking investment,' the research says. The authors' outlook for state-level electricity markets assumes an incremental growth in electricity demand due to the growth of data centers. Some of Ceba's members are tech giants – including Amazon, Google and Meta – who are bringing more data centers online. An earlier Ceba report, published in February, forecast the effect on electricity prices alone across all 50 states. If the clean energy investment and production credits are repealed, the average American household would see their annual household utility bills increase by $110 by 2026, it found. Wyoming would see the largest rise of 29.5% on average for households across the state, the earlier report found.
The Hill
14-05-2025
- Business
- The Hill
Chinese businesses view tariff pause with caution and uncertainty
BANGKOK (AP) — While U.S. President Donald Trump has talked of victory after reaching a weekend deal with China to reduce the sky-high tariffs levied on each others' goods, businesses in China are reacting to the temporary deal with caution. The U.S. and China have cut the tariffs levied on each other in April, with the U.S. cutting the 145% tax Trump imposed last month to 30%. China agreed to lower its tariff rate on U.S. goods to 10% from 125%. The lower tariff rates came into effect on Wednesday. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, announcing the reduction in tariff rates this weekend in Geneva, had said, 'We do want trade.' While the markets have responded to the agreement with gusto, rebounding to the levels before Trump's tariffs, business owners remain wary. Businesses like one kitchen utensil factory in southern Guangdong province were eager to get back to work. The business said they put at least four orders from their American clients back into production on Tuesday after the tariff pause was announced. 'We thought the negotiation would bring the tariffs down a bit, but didn't expect it would be so much,' said Margaret Zhuang, a salesperson for the utensil factory in Guangdong province, one of China's manufacturing hubs. The two countries are now planning to start negotiations for a longer-term deal. Kahlee Yu, sales manager of Yangjiang Hongnan Industry and Trade Company, which also manufactures kitchen utensils, said he was reaching out to American customers again. 'We're a little bit optimistic about the trade deal between the two sides. But it is still possible the tariff policies will change again, resulting in no orders from our American clients,' he said. However happy they were in the moment, the damage from tariffs announced in April has already been done, Zhuang added, as they are seeing fewer orders. Currently, she has orders for products up until June. Earlier this year, before Trump's trade war began, they had orders for production extending to August. The uncertainty also means companies are less willing to make new investments. Kelvin Liao, sales director at Action Composites, a manufacturer of carbon fiber auto parts in Dongguan, a major city in Guangdong, said he was originally planning to buy a piece of land to build a new factory, but opted instead to rent because of the tariff situation. 'It is good to reach a trade deal between the two countries. But people have already lost confidence in Trump, and we will take a wait-and-see attitude,' he said. 'We believe the signing a trade deal is just a pause and the ultimate goal of the US is to curb China's development.' Tariffs also remain in place for some industries, which are not part of the general deal. Hong Kong businessman Danny Lau, who owns an aluminum-coating factory, said his company still faces about a 75% tariff from tariffs levied at different points since 2018 by the U.S. Still he welcomed the news from the weekend, saying he would reach out to existing American customers to gauge their views. 'Although the policy change doesn't cover our industry, we hope talks will continue and there will be better news during the 90-day pause,' he said. In April, some Chinese businesses said they would focus their attention on exporting to other markets, given how high the American tariffs were. Analysts said previously that the tariffs could cause Chinese businesses to diversify their supply chains and move part of their manufacturing capacity abroad, including to the U.S. Liao, the auto parts manufacturer, said his company already has a factory in Vietnam, and the products there were exported to the U.S. 'We don't believe that the US has the ability to produce the products like ours with lower costs. We will not give up on the US market.' —- AP researcher Yu Bing contributed to this report from Beijing. AP writers Kanis Leung in Hong Kong and Fu Ting in Washington contributed to this report.
