U.S. President, Donald Trump and Tim Cook, Apple Inc.’s CEO, are expected to tour the company’s operations in Texas where their products are made. According to people familiar with the matter, the tour will take place as early as next week for showcasing companies that provide jobs in the country. No announcement has been made as yet regarding the trip. However, it highlights the strong relationship between Trump and Cook as the latter is trying to seek additional relief from US tariffs on Apple’s imports from China. These tariffs are part of a tit-for-tat prolonged war between the largest economies of the world.
No comment was made by Apple regarding the trip and a spokesperson for the White House said that there are no scheduling announcements to be made at this time. The iPhone maker announced in September that they would be making new Mac Pro desktop computers in Austin, Texas, where previous models had also be manufactured at a contract manufacturing facility. This announcement was made only days after 10 of the 15 requests filed by Apple for tariff exemptions had been approved by U.S trade regulators amidst a broader reprieve on taxes on computer parts.
As per filings with trade regulators, Apple had also made other requests to the Trump administration earlier this month about waiving tariffs on Apple watches made in China, as well as iPhone components and other consumer items. Boosting the manufacturing sector of the United States is one of the primary goals of Donald Trump’s presidency. He has taken it to Twitter and pressurized local companies into offering jobs at home. Moreover, Trump has also punished China by levying significant tariffs on numerous Chinese imports for what he deems unfair trade practices. However, this has also hurt a number of companies in the U.S.
The visit would allow the president to tout his strong relationship with Apple’s CEO, after a number of CEOs had tendered their resignation in 2017 from a business advisory board. This was due to the tepid response of the U.S. president to violence that took place at a rally of White supremacists in Virginia. Cook and Trump had had dinner together in August after which tariff relief was granted to Apple. As per Trump, the CEO had made a ‘good case’ about the tariffs hurting the company’s position against South Korean rival, Samsung Electronics, whose products would not have the same levies imposed on them.
Trump is hoping to make a partial trade deal with China in the near future, but he said on Friday that he wasn’t sure what tariffs would be removed as part of the agreement. The visit to Texas would not be the president’s first one to the Lone Star State for touting manufacturing jobs in the US. A Louis Vuitton factory was toured by Trump in Alvarado, where he was accompanied by presidential adviser and his daughter, Ivanka, as well as top executives of LVMH. This appearance had spread some discord within the designers of Louis Vuitton.
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