Apple Inc. Chief Executive Tim Cook on Tuesday said that the desire to keep Mac Pro computer production in United States was behind the company’s recent request for tariff exclusions. “We want to continue to be here,” he told analysts on a post-earnings call, adding that the company is investing in capacity to manufacture $6,000 Mac Pros in the United States.
The Wall Street Journal reported in June that Apple is shifting manufacturing of its new Mac Pro desktop computer to China from Texas.
Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump said his administration would not grant Apple any relief for tariffs on parts made in China for Mac Pro, later adding that he thought the firm would build a plant in Texas.
MacDailyNews Take: So, The Wall Street Journal report was either wrong or Cook has changed his mind rather abruptly. We suspect the former.
Hopefully, this will all work out and the Mac Pro can continue to be assembled in the U.S as Apple wishes (this time with Mac professionals actually buying them in significant quantities, as we doubt has been the case for many years; we suspect work on the Trash Can Mac Pro assembly line was rather sparse in recent years given the product’s advanced age and painfully obvious dead-endedness).