Trump’s Manufacturing Claims Face Challenges Amid Apple Layoffs

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the deadline approaches for President Trump’s new manufacturing policies, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt discussed the potential for shifting iPhone production to the United States. During a briefing on April 8, 2025, Leavitt stated, “If Apple didn’t think the United States could do it, they probably wouldn’t have put up that big chunk of change,” referencing Apple’s announced $500 billion investment in the U.S.

However, industry analysts challenge this optimism. Some argue that Apple’s investment plans align more with expected expenditures rather than a strategic shift in manufacturing. Steve Jobs and current CEO Tim Cook have both long claimed that U.S. manufacturing for the iPhone may not be feasible.

Leavitt’s comments came shortly after U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick made headlines over the weekend for suggesting that “the army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in little screws to make iPhones” could be brought to the U.S. In response, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman posed a direct question to Leavitt, asking if Trump believed iPhone production technology could realistically shift to the U.S. Leavitt affirmed, “Absolutely. He believes we have the labor, we have the workforce, we have the resources to do it.”

Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs reveals a stark contrast to the optimism expressed by the Trump administration. In conversations between Jobs and then-President Barack Obama in 2010 and 2011, Jobs highlighted a critical shortage of properly trained engineers in the U.S., estimating that Apple required 30,000 skilled engineers to support its manufacturing needs, compared to the 700,000 employees Apple has in China.

“You can’t find that many in America to hire,” Jobs explained, emphasizing the challenges of engineering talent in the U.S. manufacturing sector.

Tim Cook echoed these sentiments during a Fortune Magazine Global Forum event, stating that while China has evolved beyond being the low-cost manufacturing hub, it remains attractive due to its concentration of skilled labor: “The truth is China stopped being the low labor cost country many years ago. The reason is because of the skill and the quantity of skill in one location, and the type of skill,” Cook said.

Cook described the specialized requirements for Apple’s advanced products, noting the difficulty of sourcing similar expertise in the U.S. “You know in the U.S., you could have a meeting of tooling engineers, and I’m not sure we could fill the room — in China you could fill multiple football fields.”

Despite these challenges, the Trump administration continues to push for a manufacturing revival in the U.S., as it seeks to bolster American jobs and competitiveness in the technology sector. However, experts caution that a significant overhaul of manufacturing capacity may take years to realize, especially in the face of current layoffs in the tech industry that could hinder this ambition.