President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his preference to see Apple start producing iPhones in the United States and he has been vocal about it. Apple’s entire production setup for the iPhone exists in China and it’s not just that, the majority of its suppliers are based in Asia so it’s going to be easier said than done. In an interview with Axios, the president-elect said that he spoke with Apple CEO Tim Cook recently and that he has “eyes open” to the idea of moving iPhone production to the United States.
Aside from saying that the CEO of Apple has his eyes open to the idea, Trump added that he really believes Cook loves the United States and that “I think he’d like to do something major here.”
It’s unclear when this conversation between Trump and Cook took place. It may have taken place soon after Trump was declared the winner of the presidential race and received a call from Cook or at the meeting in December that was attended by quite a few technology leaders. It may have happened another time but there’s no clarity on that right now.
Apple has not yet commented on this and hasn’t confirmed when this conversation took place. The company hasn’t also said anything about any plans for moving production of its cash cow to the United States, even though that’s something the president-elect would love to see it do.
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