During yesterday’s earnings call, Tim Cook confirmed that Apple wants to continue making the Mac Pro in the US.
The statement was made in response to a rumor of Apple moving the production of the Mac Pro out of the United States due to tariffs on components coming from China.
Responding to a question on the subject, Cook said: “There’s been a lot of speculation around the topic of different moves and so forth. I wouldn’t put a lot of stock in those. The way I view that is the vast majority of our products are kind of made everywhere.”
The Apple CEO explained that components for Apple products like the Mac Pro are not only made in the United States, but also in Japan, Korea, Europe, China, and other locations, adding “That’s the nature of a global supply chain. I think that will carry the day, in the future as well.”
Cook also confirmed that Apple was investing in its facilities in the United States, and that, for the time being, the Mac Pro would continue to be made in the country.
“We’ve been making the Mac Pro in the United States and we want to continue doing that. We’re working and investing currently in the capacity to do so. We want to continue to be there. That’s what’s behind the exclusions,” he added.
Since 2013, Apple’s manufacturing plant in Texas has been the birthplace of the Mac Pro, but a The Wall Street Journal report earlier in the year suggested that the new Mac Pro, which was announced in June, would be assembled by Quanta Computer in China to cut costs and reduce the potential impact of future trade wars and imposed tariffs on China.
At the time, Apple said “final assembly is only one part of the manufacturing process” of the Mac Pro, adding that it had been designed in the US with US-made components.
Earlier this month, Apple asked for an import tariff exemption on parts for the new Mac Pro, but this was not approved by President Donald Trump, who tweeted: “Apple will not be given Tariff waiver, or relief, for Mac Pro parts made in China. Make them in the USA, no Tariffs!”
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