Apple CEO Tim Cook dinner, left, and President Donald Trump communicate to the press throughout a tour of the Flextronics laptop manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas, the place Apple’s Mac Professionals are assembled, Nov. 20, 2019.
Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Photographs
Apple CEO Tim Cook dinner will be part of President Donald Trump on Wednesday for an occasion touting what the White Home calls a brand new $100 billion funding dedication by the tech large within the U.S.
The announcement within the Oval Workplace, set for 4:30 p.m. ET, consists of Apple’s dedication to a brand new “American Manufacturing Program,” a White Home official confirmed to CNBC.
With the brand new pledge, Apple’s whole funding within the U.S. over the subsequent 4 years now totals $600 billion, the official mentioned.
Bloomberg first reported Apple’s new funding pledge earlier Wednesday.
The assembly comes as Trump has pushed Apple to make its merchandise in America — a feat that consultants say would jack up costs by tons of of {dollars}, if it could possibly even be completed in any respect.
Most of Apple’s flagship iPhones have been manufactured in China, although the corporate is transferring a few of its manufacturing to India.
Trump has complained about that plan. “We’re not interested by you constructing in India, India can deal with themselves … we wish you to construct right here,” Trump mentioned he instructed Cook dinner in Might.
On Wednesday, Trump introduced he’ll double the U.S. tariff fee on Indian items to 50%. Trump mentioned he was elevating the tariff due to India persevering with to buy Russian oil.
Trump had exempted smartphones, chips and different tech merchandise from his early April “reciprocal” tariff plan, which slapped a ten% baseline obligation on practically the whole world and set considerably greater charges for dozens of particular person international locations.
That exemption nonetheless utilized as of this week, following Trump’s government order tweaking U.S. tariffs on a slew of nations.
And it seems to stay intact in Trump’s newest order ratcheting up tariffs on imports from India.
Apple declined CNBC’s request for remark.
— CNBC’s Steve Kovach contributed to this report.
