Minister of Commerce: Apple is waiting for “robot arms” for US production

According to US trade minister Howard Lutnick, Apple is only waiting for the development of precise robot arms in order to build up iPhones in the USA. CEO Tim Cook recently told him that Apple did not want to employ so many people abroad, Lutnick said In an interview with the US economic station CNBC this week. The problem: You need robot arms that could work exactly and in large quantities. As soon as that is in sight, Apple will produce in the United States, Cook has promised him.

American workers would then keep these automated factories going instead of screwing up housing, said Lutnick. A few weeks ago he also raved about on TV: “The army of millions and millions of human beings, the tiny screws turn in to produce iPhones – something like this will come to America.” Now he said that this statement was “torn out of context”.

US President Donald Trump wants to force manufacturers with high import tariffs to move their production back to the USA. However, there was a preliminary exception for important electronics such as smartphones and laptops.

Trump wants iPhones from the USA

The Minister of Commerce-and also President Trump-had repeatedly expressed that iPhone production in the USA was “possible” and desired. Most of the most iPhones are built in China, even if Apple has stimulated production in India enormously in recent years. A trigger of the production shift was temporarily bottlenecks for corona lockdowns in China, which showed the risks of dependence on only one country, as well as the punitive tariffs during the first Trump administration.

At the same time, the supply chains have been mainly in Asia for decades of Apple, but also other large electronics manufacturers. In addition, the labor costs there are still significantly lower than in the United States, even if wages in China continue to rise. Would Apple his iPhones in a factory in West Virginia or N

EW Jersey Building, the price of a device was $ 3,500, said analyst Dan Ives from the investment company Wedbus.

If the group moved only ten percent of the supply chain to the United States, it would cost him three years and $ 30 billion, Ives estimated to be the US media. So far, Apple has not commented on the discussion that has been running for weeks. Most recently, CEO Tim Cook praised the structure a third factory of the chip manufacturer TSMC in Arizona.