Apple says's it's happy to continue employing 80,000 in the US – but in high-end management, marketing, engineering and design roles, not low-end, low-margin assembly.
US president-elect Donald Trump is already leaning on Apple – the world's most profitable company – to "build a big plant in the US."
In a free-ranging interview with the New York Times, he said:
“I got a call from Tim Cook at Apple, and I said, ‘Tim, you know one of the things that will be a real achievement for me is when I get Apple to build a big plant in the United States, or many big plants in the United States, where instead of going to China, and going to Vietnam, and going to the places that you go to, you’re making your product right here.’ He said, ‘I understand that.’ I said: ‘I think we’ll create the incentives for you, and I think you’re going to do it. We’re going for a very large tax cut for corporations, which you’ll be happy about.’
Throughout the campaign, Hillary Clinton prodded Mr Trump on how exactly he would bring manufacturing jobs back to the US. Now we seem to have the answer; the "carrot" of tax incentives. It remains to be seen whether there will be a "stick" element as well, such as extra tariffs on goods imported from China.
On Monday, Apple pre-empted Mr Trump by noting to the US that the company directly employs 80,000 people in the US.
The company's broad position is that while it has a limited amount of manufacturing in the US (which is arguably a reaction to pressure during the Obama/Romney race four years ago), it's main focus at home is on high-end management, marketing, design, engineering and support roles. It has no plans to bring low-end, low-margin assembly work back from China.
Two other pain points
Apple, and the tech industry, two other pain points during the Trump presidency.
Mr Trump sided with the FBI during its (ultimately unsuccessful) legal fight against Apple's iPhone encryption earlier this year. Apple argues encryption is vital to security and privacy. Mr Trump, and his pick for Attorney General, Alabama Senator and hardline conservative Jeff Sessions, argue it helps terrorists.
And several members of the president-elect's transition want to reverse President Obama's measures in favour of net neutrality, or all internet data being treated equally – as opposed to network providers trying to shake down the likes of Netflix with extra charges. Some ISPs, telcos and network providers claim the likes of Apple (with services like iTunes streaming and FaceTime calling) are "freeloading." While it seems unlikely Mr Trump is aware of the nuances of the net neutrality debate, or possibly even that the concept exists, several of his backers and possible appointees are very hot on this one. It could be a big battle ahead for the tech sector.
On both issues, any moves by the Trump administration could face blow-back from federal courts, which have so far backed encryption and backed net neutrality.
The president-elect has also promised a crackdown on multinationals who hold a lot of cash offshore. If he follows through, it will impact Apple and other cash-rich tech companies.
POSTSCRIPT: What's in Trump's pocket?
President Obama stuck to his BlackBerry from 2008 until June this year. The White House has refused to say what he uses now.
Tweets to President-elect Donald Trump's Twitter account have been made from both iPhone and Android handsets in roughly equal measure.
An analysis shows that the account's more bland, procedural tweets about event times and so forth come mostly from an iPhone, while the more colourful tweets, and those issued at 3am, are posted from an Android.
The obvious conclusion: Someone on his staff is updating @RealDonaldTrump from an Apple device, while The Donald is using an Android.
It's perhaps worth noting that while the phenomenally successful Google is of course a US company, the makers of phones that run its Android mobile software — HTC, LG, Huawai, Lenovo (these days owner of Motorola's mobile business), Samsung and Sony — are all offshore. This globalisation thing can just get so darned complicated.
Mr Trump has also been photographed in his office with what looks suspiciously like a MacBook in the background. There's a slim chance that MacBook has final assembly in the US (for laptops are the focus of the company's limited local manufacturing operation), but NBR is guessing he didn't check.
