“The tariffs are amazing,” said President Donald Trump last Friday. “It’s my favorite word in the dictionary, the word tariff. It’s such a beautiful word.”
The president was speaking to state governors who were in D.C. for the National Governors Association meeting, and he was bragging that he had met with Apple’s CEO Tim Cook earlier in the week, who had told him that Apple was going to be investing “hundreds of billions of dollars” in the U.S. instead of abroad—because of the threat of tariffs.
Suddenly, Trump paused. “I hope he announced it,” he said, realizing that perhaps he had jumped the gun.
Jumping the gun is exactly what he’d done. But on Monday, Apple made it official: The company announced that it would spend a half a trillion dollars over the next four years to expand its U.S. operations. The expansion would include hiring 20,000 more employees (a 12 percent increase), building a new factory in Houston, adding capacity in nine states, doubling the size of its manufacturing academy, and speeding up its investments in AI.
It’s hard to say how much of Apple’s decision to double down on the U.S. was because of Trump’s threat to place tariffs on Chinese goods—where most Apple products are made—and semiconductors. But it clearly played some role, as did the realization by America’s highest profile company that it’s important to stay on the president’s good side. Cook, who took over as Apple’s CEO in August 2011, two months before Steve Jobs died, had a keen understanding of this dynamic during Trump’s first term. And it worked out well for both parties.
Back in 2018, halfway through Trump’s first administration, Apple announced it would spend $350 billion over five years to expand in the U.S. It included a flashy new campus in Austin, Texas, which is still under construction. Trump was so happy about the domestic investment that he called up Cook to thank him, and praised the company in a speech.
And what did Apple get out of the deal? Once Trump imposed his tariffs on computer parts, the company requested 15 exemptions. The administration approved 10 of them.
Is the same scenario likely to play out again? Probably. Trump—and the American worker, I should add—wins, thanks to jobs and increased manufacturing capacity. No matter what you think of Trump—or tariffs, for that matter—that is a net plus for the country. And in return for its $500 billion investment, Apple gets tariff relief, which will allow it to remain competitive even as it builds its products with higher-paid American workers.
There are Wall Street analysts who are skeptical of the deal, who don’t believe Apple will ever pony up anything close to $500 billion, and it’s simply a ploy to make Trump happy. Maybe. The thing is, Apple is going to have to pony up something—and it will likely be significant. As a result, lots of other companies, with the same urgent need to get on Trump’s good side, will make similar announcements. Will General Motors bring some manufacturing back from Mexico? Will Nike start making some of its Air Jordans in the U.S. instead of China? Will Walmart begin stocking more U.S.-made goods, even if they cost a little more than products made in Vietnam? With Apple leading the way, it all seems possible.
On Monday morning, on CNBC, the celebrity stockpicker Jim Cramer portrayed the relationship between Trump and corporate America as simply a matter of realpolitik.
“I think you have to play ball,” he said. “This is a transactional administration.” He added, “We can’t just keep saying, ‘Oh, so and so got browbeaten.’ We have to say, ‘We elected a president. The president says we have to have more jobs. He goes to companies that hire a lot more people and he says you gotta hire even more people. And Apple’s one of them.’ ”
Tim Cook couldn’t have said it better himself.
The story of the JFK conspiracy theory isn’t just about a few hucksters red-pilling traumatized boomers. No. It’s also about how the government squandered its most precious asset: the trust of the American people. Last week on Breaking History, Eli Lake examined the chain of events that led Donald Trump to declassify the remaining files on JFK’s assassination.