Trump, Apple announce additional $100 billion in new US investment amid tariff frenzy
WASHINGTON − President Donald Trump hosted Apple CEO Tim Cook at the White House on Aug. 6 as the tech giant announced $100 billion in new U.S. investment, bringing its total investment to $600 billion in the latest move by the company to boost domestic production to protect its popular iPhones from Trump's steep tariffs.
"This is the largest investment Apple has ever made in America and anywhere else," said Trump. "The company's also unveiling its ambitious new American manufacturing program, which will bring factories and assembly lines across our country."
Trump also announced that Apple will also build a 250,000 square foot server manufacturing facility in Houston and invest billions of dollars to construct data centers across the country from North Carolina to Iowa to Oregon.
"That's big stuff," he said.
Standing next to the president, Apple CEO Tim Cook talked about the origin of the additional $100 billion investment. Earlier this year, when the company broke ground on a new factory in Houston to make advanced AI servers, Cook said Trump asked the company to think about what more they could commit to doing.
"And Mr. President, we took that challenge very seriously," said Cook. "I'm proud to say that Apple is leading the creation of an end-to-end silicon supply chain right here in America."
Apple's announcement ensures the reshoring of the production of critical components to protect America’s economic and national security, Taylor Rogers, an assistant White House press secretary, said in a statement.
In May, Trump threatened to impose 25% tariffs on cellphones that Apple and other companies manufacture in other countries. Trump blasted Apple in a May 23 social media post for producing more than half its phones in India to avoid high Chinese tariffs, singling out comments Cook made during an earnings call.
As part of a wave of new reciprocal tariffs set to go in effect Aug. 7, Trump last week signed an executive order imposing 25% tariffs on imports from India.
The White House has worked agressively to tout manufacturing investments from private companies as proof that Trump's tariff strategy is working ‒ even as factory employment in the U.S. dropped for the fifth straight month in July.
Apple said in February that it would spend $500 billion in U.S. investments in the next four years that will include a giant factory in Texas for artificial intelligence servers and add about 20,000 research and development jobs across the country in that time. Yet the Washington Post reported the bulk of the $500 billion covers the regular costs of running its business.
Contributing: Reuters
This article has been updated with additional information.
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