From Texas Standard:
When President Donald Trump started slapping tariffs on Chinese imports to the United States in 2018, one American company that stood to lose big was Apple. The parts Apple needed from China to build its top-of-the-line Mac Pro would have been prohibitively expensive to assemble in the U.S. But now, Apple has announced it’s not only building the Mac Pro in America, but production will be right here in Texas.
Dave Hamilton, who co-founded the Apple-focused news site The Mac Observer, says Apple was able to keep Mac Pro production in Austin because it likely worked out a deal with the government.
“I have no doubt that Apple, being in the running for the most valuable company, has a little bit of sway there, and I think that, yeah, there’s probably some deals that were made. But I don’t think anything nefarious,” Hamilton says. “They’re just doing what they need to do to keep moving the company forward.”
What you’ll hear in this segment:– How Apple was able to get tariff “exclusions” on some Chinese imports
– Why those exclusions still don’t mean Apple would be able to build the iPhone in the U.S.
– Whether Mac Pro production could bring more jobs to Austin
Written by Caroline Covington.
Copyright 2019 KUT 90.5
