(Daily Caller) Apple filed a proposal in December to further manufacturing in Arizona, possibly signaling its intention to vamp up production activity in America.
President-elect Donald Trump said during a meeting with The New York Times in November that he had a productive conversation with Apple CEO Tim Cook about manufacturing concerns.
“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,’” Trump explained.
“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.’ But we’re going for big tax cuts, we have to get rid of regulations, regulations are making it impossible,” Trump continued.
It is not exactly clear if Apple’s latest decision to increase production activity in the U.S. is due to the political climate and the impending ascension of Trump.
The notice, though, details Apple’s intent to grow its manufacturing capacity in Mesa, Arizona.
“Apple already has authority to produce certain components for consumer electronics” in the area, reads the notice published Monday in the Federal Register. “The current request would add finished products and foreign status materials/components to the scope of authority.”
The proposal provides a lengthy list of foreign materials (in total 71) likely to be manufactured into finished products at the facility, including plastic bags, fan blades, electric motors, magnets, lithium batteries, microphones, power strips, optical fiber cables, metal furniture, and many other items.
Apple expanding manufacturing in the U.S. may become a pattern in years to come, after a report released in November by a Japanese financial newspaper said that the tech conglomerate is considering moving iPhone production to the States.
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