Tariffs or Not, Apple Sees No Benefit in Moving iPhone Production to the U.S.

San Francisco: President Donald Trump's administration has long touted its aggressive tariffs against China as a lever to push U.S. companies, including Apple, into relocating manufacturing back to American soil. But industry experts say this vision is fundamentally disconnected from global economic realities—and Apple’s continued reliance on China’s advanced industrial ecosystem is proof.
Even as tariffs on Chinese-made products have soared to a staggering 145%, Apple remains firmly committed to China’s manufacturing base—a signal not of corporate defiance, but of practical necessity. Since the 1990s, Apple has invested in building a vast and intricate supply chain across China, one that would take years and billions of dollars to replicate in the U.S.
Analysts agree: manufacturing iPhones in the United States is an economic non-starter. “The idea is almost absurd,” said Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities. He estimated that the current 1,000 dollar price tag for an iPhone made in China, or India, would soar to more than 3,000 dollar if production shifted to the US. According to Ives, even with an ambitious timeline, such a shift wouldn’t be possible before 2028. "Price points would move so dramatically, it's hard to comprehend."
This reality highlights a larger issue: the U.S. lacks the vocational depth, industrial coordination, and technical workforce that China has nurtured over decades. Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged this in 2017, noting that the U.S. could barely assemble a room of tooling engineers—while China could fill "multiple football fields."
Yet the U.S. government clings to outdated assumptions. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick recently suggested that tariffs would bring "millions of human beings screwing in little screws" to America. His comment was widely ridiculed as both tone-deaf and technologically naive, reflecting a poor grasp of how precision manufacturing actually functions in the modern world.
Despite political pressure, Apple’s recent 500 billion dollar investment pledge to the U.S. had nothing to do with iPhone production. The company instead focused on data infrastructure and emerging AI technologies—fields where U.S. talent can be better utilized. The manufacturing of Apple’s flagship devices, however, remains beyond the current capabilities of American industry.
Apple’s cautious silence on the matter speaks volumes. As the company prepares for its May 1 earnings call, analysts expect the question of tariffs to dominate the conversation—especially since Apple's stock has plunged 15% and lost 500 billion dollars in market value since Trump's tariff hikes began on April 2.
For now, Apple can cushion the blow thanks to its booming services division, which generated 96 billion dollars last fiscal year and remains untouched by tariffs. But the long-term consequences of this trade war may fall squarely on American consumers, who could eventually face higher prices for electronics made overseas—while gaining nothing in return.
Ironically, it was the same Trump administration that once exempted iPhones from tariffs and took credit for Apple plants built during the Obama era, revealing a pattern of symbolic gestures over strategic substance. Meanwhile, China’s high-skilled workforce, industrial policy, and manufacturing efficiency continue to anchor the world’s most valuable tech company—despite Washington’s best efforts to shift the tide.