Trump Tells Apple CEO To Avoid Manufacturing in India (livemint.com) 225
U.S. President Donald Trump said he has told Apple CEO Tim Cook to stop expanding manufacturing operations in India despite New Delhi offering a "no-tariff deal" to the United States, a move that could impede India's aspirations to become a global technology manufacturing hub.
"I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday," Trump said during his state visit to Qatar, referring to the Apple chief executive. "He is building all over India. I don't want you building in India. India can take care of itself."
Apple has significantly increased its Indian manufacturing footprint, assembling $22 billion worth of iPhones in India during the 12 months through March. Apple said earlier this month a majority of its devices shipped into the U.S. in the June quarter will originate in India and Vietnam.
"I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday," Trump said during his state visit to Qatar, referring to the Apple chief executive. "He is building all over India. I don't want you building in India. India can take care of itself."
Apple has significantly increased its Indian manufacturing footprint, assembling $22 billion worth of iPhones in India during the 12 months through March. Apple said earlier this month a majority of its devices shipped into the U.S. in the June quarter will originate in India and Vietnam.
Good jorb, don (Score:4, Interesting)
Won't it be ironic if the US president kills the most valuable US business?
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Won't it be ironic if the US president kills the most valuable US business?
Apple has significantly increased its Indian manufacturing footprint, assembling $22 billion worth of iPhones in India during the 12 months through March..
One does not pull $22 billion worth of manufactured goods out of ones ass overnight. Or since Inauguration Day, 2025. Not a damn thing DJT has ever said or done, created Apple manufacturing in India. Which has clearly been going on for a while.
Wouldn’t it be ironic if the country that practically invented clickbait bullshit, decided to start remembering what is actually valuable instead of perpetuating clickbait bullshit?
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So what is actually valuable in your esteemed opinion?
Obviously what is actually valuable to Apple is to be able to produce its trinkets where the costs are minimal and the output quantities can satisfy their market demand.
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As it turns out, that is also quite valuable to Apple's customers, as they don't want the price for Apple's trinkets to go any higher.
This was always going to be the result of his idiot trade war. No CEO that deserves to hold the position is going to say "oh well I guess we're done with manufacturing in the world's cheap labor markets because a dottering old orange man said so. I guess we'll have to manufacture in the world's most expensive labor market instead. and jack our prices up, or shrink our margi
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Only China then.
That's what Tim Cook said himself a while ago. Has anything changed since then to change his opinion, what do you think?
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Here, trololo, I'll bite.
https://www.techacrobat.com/ti... [techacrobat.com]
According to Tim Cook, the set that China is not from other countries is not low-cost, but rather the workforce and the extraordinary quality. He explained that producing Apple equipment requires accurate tools, advanced material handling, and special engineering skills.
Apparently, quite unlike the US.
Cook pointed out the difference between America and China in this regard, saying that it is challenging to fill a room with tools for tools in the United States. In contrast, in China, you can fill more football areas with people with outstanding performance in the field.
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I understand why it is a surprise for you, but let me tell you a secret: skillful labor lowers the cost of production. Skillful labor who can built tools reduces the cost of production dramatically.
You said the reason is cost
No, I didn't. But the only way you can argue is apparently to pick one point of many and pretend it is the only one.
Re:Good jorb, don (Score:5, Informative)
Only China then.
A little bit in India is so they can be legally sold in India.
Way to tell everyone you're not paying attention. Apple didn't promote manufacturing in India to sell devices in India. Foxconn opened factories in India *because they are a low cost country while prices in China are rising*, and Apple moved some production to India. Indian never banned iPhones unless they were made in India. India banned *USED / Refurbished* iPhones from being sold in India. India proposed banning iPhones which do not ship with the "Do Not Disturb" app, something that Apple capitulated about in 2019.
Re:Good jorb, don (Score:4, Interesting)
Only China then.
A little bit in India is so they can be legally sold in India.
Way to tell everyone you're not paying attention. Apple didn't promote manufacturing in India to sell devices in India. Foxconn opened factories in India *because they are a low cost country while prices in China are rising*, and Apple moved some production to India. Indian never banned iPhones unless they were made in India. India banned *USED / Refurbished* iPhones from being sold in India. India proposed banning iPhones which do not ship with the "Do Not Disturb" app, something that Apple capitulated about in 2019.
This, even China is outsourcing these days due to the rising cost of manufacturing in China. This is something that a lot of western economists have predicted, a rising middle class in the middle kingdom. There's a reason that China has been spending money on Africa, it's a source of cheap labour (and not one they are potentially going to war with).
Also China is starting to pay attention to human rights. The rising middle class demands it and the government which prides itself on it's revolutionary beginnings would seem to understand the problems that occur from ignoring such demands.
A move to India is a move to cut costs, especially with Indian Oligarchs saying that Indians need to accept 80 hour work weeks.
Re:Good jorb, don (Score:5, Informative)
Also China is starting to pay attention to human rights. The rising middle class demands it and the government which prides itself on it's revolutionary beginnings would seem to understand the problems that occur from ignoring such demands.
You were doing well until you got here. The Uyghurs, the people of Hong Kong or anyone who makes their government unhappy would likely disagree with you on this point. Those people dont have any real, meaningful rights over there and nothing recently has changed in regards to this that I'm aware of.
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Also China is starting to pay attention to human rights. The rising middle class demands it and the government which prides itself on it's revolutionary beginnings would seem to understand the problems that occur from ignoring such demands.
You were doing well until you got here. The Uyghurs, the people of Hong Kong or anyone who makes their government unhappy would likely disagree with you on this point. Those people dont have any real, meaningful rights over there and nothing recently has changed in regards to this that I'm aware of.
They're the minority, it's easy to surpress... the majority is a different kettle of fish.
But this is what China's Social Credit system is all about. They can't stop people from getting richer, however they can make a system to make it harder for them to get luxuries.
Re:Good jorb, don (Score:4, Interesting)
Let me preface this by saying there is no way Apple with get killed by this.
Guess when these decisions happened and who was president then: https://www.reuters.com/articl... [reuters.com]
And now again Apple is expanding in India with Donnie boy being president again.
Actually, yeah he kind of did. By setting off a trade war with China: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
This made many US companies move manufacturing elsewhere, including this Apple move to India
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Well that's the typical unintended consequences. Placing punitive tariffs on china was never going to force manufacturing back to the US, it was only ever going to bump it to the next cheapest country.
You'd need to have punitive tariffs on *ALL* countries where manufacturing is significantly cheaper than the US.
And even if final manufacturing takes place in the US, many of the parts still come from other countries so you'd have not only the higher assembly costs but you'd also still be hit with tariffs on t
Re:Good jorb, don (Score:5, Interesting)
Let's look at la Presidenta's record of running a successful business. Squat. He is good at running fraudulent businesses (see the NY State court case or his "University"). There's only the faintest of fuzzy chances his latest "scheme" to bring manufacturing "back" to America will work.
First, components get sourced from all over, attempting to make them all the U.S. is just plain silly.
Second, any manufacturing "brought" back will be so automated that the number of jobs it creates is minimal. That means the Maggots get nothing for this pump and dump scheme so there is not sustainable support for it.
Third, other countries will continue to produce what they are good at, so any manufacturing "brought" back to America will still not be able to compete globally against those other countries.
Forth, the tariffs will need to continue to be in place to protect those the new expensive (to the rest of the world) manufacturing.
Fifth, the increase in cost will be born by America consumers (since they won't be selling their new manufactured shit abroad as it is too expensive). They are already livid at the cost of living, this will only make it worse.
Sixth, the haphazard and meandering whims of the la Presidenta make companies not want to invest in new manufacturing in the U.S. since the rug could get pulled out from under them at any time, say when la Presidenta gots pissed at broken marshmallows in his breakfast feed, the phase of the moon not conforming to what he thinks it should be, etc.
Seventh, la Presidenta will go the way of the dodo in 2028, if not before due to his familial familiarity with dementia, or due to his heart climbing up and strangling his two brain cells for causing him to shovel large amounts of McDonald's "fry-my-heart" food down his pie hole.
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Yes, there's lots of flaws in the current approach, but that wasn't my point.
The point is the *goal* is a valid one, the method of achieving it doesn't look too good but there also don't seem to be any better options on the table.
If you keep outsourcing everything to cheaper places then eventually there will be no jobs in the US, and people simply won't be able to afford the resulting products. Then it doesn't matter how cheap the manufacturing is, you can't sell. The economy will collapse, and this would l
Re:Good jorb, don (Score:5, Insightful)
No, the reason why there will be no jobs in the US eventually is that the upper class has become increasingly effective at waging class warfare against the middle and lower classes, who have become increasingly ineffective at fighting back. The rich will always find a way to squeeze profit out of those who are less well-off.
Re: US unemployment rate (Score:3)
US unemployment rate was about 4% by January 2025.
https://tradingeconomics.com/u... [tradingeconomics.com]
That's about as low as it can get without causing undesirable side effects.
So what exactly is the problem?
You want to give up your job coding to sew t-shirts?
You want to put your kids to work in factories gluing sneakers?
You want your senior citizens to put screws in iphone cases?
What problem is he solving?
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While the conditions will not be so bad...hence part of the reason the cost is higher in the US to manufacture....there IS a need for simple manual jobs that Americans can work and raise families on.
Not everyone has the brainpower nor interest for doing tech work....and not a lot of AI can take over a manual job.
That's not to say there won't be more and more automat
Re:Good jorb, don (Score:5, Informative)
All these tarifs are are stock market manipulation tools.
He's getting a kick about being able to jerk the stock markets around while he and his cronies inside trade.
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The thing with those tariffs and the imbalance of trade is it NEVER FACTORS IN SERVICE. And guess what, the US is predominantly a service economy. That's what Google, Amazon, Microsoft, etc. are. If you take service into account, the US exports more than it imports with many countries. Why would I want to repatriate all the manufacturing jobs, when instead I can create software or be in professional servic
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Indeed, India has been, and still is mostly, very protectionist.
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You’ve heard the term reciprocal used relentlessly. That is not the language of warmongerers.
Oh for sure, throughout history no wars have ever, ever been premised on "they started it"
Tell me again how the status quo was working so well for American exports
USA exports in goods and services 2024 were over $3T, a record year. What should the amount of exports be in your opinion (and you need to justify it)?
I'm not even saying you're wrong but explain yourself.
Re:Good jorb, don (Score:4, Interesting)
Unless, of course, you're giving $400,000,000 of airplane as a bribe to Trump.
Re:Good jorb, don (Score:5, Insightful)
Let’s do a thought experiment.
What if Obama had accepted this airplane? What would your opinion be then?
Re:Good jorb, don (Score:5, Insightful)
Nuclear winter caused by the simultaneous detonation of every conservative brain in the nation.
Re:Good jorb, don (Score:5, Insightful)
How is accepting a used 747 from a middle east dictator because that aircraft just isn't keeping up with the petrodictator Joneses "foreign military aid" again?
You do realize that using that 12 year old aircraft as Air Force One will take longer, and be more expensive than just waiting for the actual replacements that Boeing has been building for years? You realize they'll have to break that thing down to the individual bolts to make sure it's not riddled with listening devices, tracking devices, bombs, or otherwise? And then once it's reassembled, the military refit for mid-air refuelling, secure communications, military aviation radars, anti-missile systems, shielding miles of cable against nuclear EMP, and the ability to conduct a full-scale war from 46,000 feet begins?
That stupid plane, if "accepted" will sit for 3 years on an Air Force airfield, until he fucks off back to private life and it gets "donated" to his library foundation. Then he'll fly around in a 747-800 like the petrodictator cunt he aspires to be, all the while asking for his cult to fund that giant wasteful hunk of shit flying him wherever he likes, pretending to still be President. And he'll probably have it painted like actual Air Force One so that he can keep pretending, and stupid people will continue to be bilked by his grift while he whines about election interference and such. Just like 2021 - 2025.
Re:Good jorb, don (Score:5, Insightful)
The funniest thing is all the MAGA whining about everything being communist, until the 34 time felon starts giving companies direct orders with the threat of retaliation if they don't comply.
Re:Good jorb, don (Score:5, Insightful)
Conservatism is not about "sharing", it is about keeping what's yours and getting more, never mind the direct or the opportunity costs. Therefore this isn't technically "Communism", it is its antithesis, the plain old fascism. Or, as the popular slogan once said, "In a Capitalist society, a man is exploited by his fellow man. In a Communist society, it is the other way around".
But I have a question - are the conservative MAGATs so different from their previous incarnations as teabaggers, neocons, reaganites, nixonites and so on?
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> Conservatism is not about "sharing", it is about keeping what's yours and getting more, never mind the direct or the opportunity costs.
You're calling Apple 'conservative' for not sharing profits with the workers in the country where they have the most direct employees?
Nobody thinks Apple is Conservative, except for that white 'power' logo they blazed for a couple decades.
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Please, I'm calling Apple - Apple.
They may not be sharing taxes, but they sure share shareholder value, no?
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The funniest thing is all the MAGA whining about everything being communist, until the 34 time felon starts giving companies direct orders with the threat of retaliation if they don't comply.
As much as your point is valid, that is not strictly communism, its a symptom of totalitarianism which doesn't have a left or right wing bend. The far right has a history of totalitarianism, we called that philosophy "fascism" (see also: theocracy).
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So tell me, my American friends:
How are you enjoying 'rule by decree'?
Re:Good jorb, don (Score:5, Insightful)
It fucking sucks.
Next question?
Re:Good jorb, don (Score:4, Informative)
This is where populism always leads to, because it's not anchored in anything.
MAGA has not been conservative for quite some time, outside of using "conservative" as a brand. These "conservatives" are responsible for the largest middle-class tax hike in modern history. These "conservatives" are not following the plain words of the Constitution. These "conservatives" are looking to add $4T to the national debt by slashing social services to the bone while giving billionaires a tax cut.
Ok maybe that last bit is somewhat "conservative" but it's also political suicide, which is why you see some Republican Senators starting to say so. We're about two weeks from the 2026 fiscal omnibus "big beautiful bill" collapsing and forcing the Congress to deliver yet another continuing resolution extending Biden's spending because they can't actually agree on anything and pass it, because there is no philosophical anchor to what they are doing.
Re:Good jorb, don (Score:5, Insightful)
That doesn't make as much of a difference as you seem to think. It still appears that Trump thinks he can order people to move manufacturing to the United States without providing incentives to help offset the cost of building factories and training workers.
It also still appears that the goal is to take America back to the mid-1800's, which was not a good time for the average person.
Not that Trump or his acolytes particularly care about the average person.
Re:Good jorb, don (Score:5, Insightful)
You don't hear the threat? When somebody says, 'I treated you so good, and now look what you did to me,' what they are saying is the good treatment is about to flip unless you listen up and listen good.
Re:Good jorb, don (Score:4, Informative)
Look at what Trump has done to law firms who were involved in legal action against him. He has made it very clear that if you cross him, he will retaliate with all the power that his office has, and more that it doesn't.
Re:Good jorb, don (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Good jorb, don (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes, because we all know that unless threats are specifically enumerated in clear language, they aren't threats.
In no way could a threat of negative consequences be implied or left unsaid, right?
It's hilarious how you people will read anything into what Biden said, but when it comes to Trump, unless it's explicitly stated in unambiguous terms, it's not a thing no matter how obvious it is to an objective observer.
OF COURSE HE ISN'T GOING TO DIRECTLY THREATEN APPLE. He's an idiot, but he's not that stupid - he's been playing the game of walking right up to the line for some time now, and he knows the message was received by the intended recipient.
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> Won't it be ironic if the US president kills the most valuable US business?
Isn't Apple an Irish business with an R&D center in California now?
They hardly pay any US corporate taxes.
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Didn't the previous Rump administration "fix" that? I have some vague memory it did... Ah, here:
https://money.cnn.com/2017/12/... [cnn.com]
So, I'm sure they are now a full US company, paying taxen, building fabriken and all that...
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Won't it be ironic if the US president kills the most valuable US business?
No. It would be just one more sign that he did what he was paid to do.
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I'm just trying to imagine Tim's reaction when he first gets the news.
"He said WHAT?!!"
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This is a question for Cook, try the next call. IIRC, India's iphone business output was supposed to be sold mostly in the Indian market, the tariffs have obviously forced Cook to reconsider and expand the scope of the operation somewhat.
"Small government" indeed. (Score:5, Interesting)
"He is building all over India. I don't want you building in India."
Interesting. Imagine the uproar of a Democrat President tried to dictate to private businesses who they could partner with for manufacturing.
Re:"Small government" indeed. (Score:4, Insightful)
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the remainder of the Democrat base rejected them as not pure enough,
The Democratic base is not a left/right mirror image of the Republican base. The Democratic base is not online leftists, who again and again are revealed in every single party contest of every kind to be powerless and outnumbered. The actual Democratic base is boring centrists that love Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris, and have supported corporations for decades.
Re:"Small government" indeed. (Score:5, Insightful)
and the rest of America trashed them for, e.g. the Gillette commercial, the Bud Light fiasco
It's funny how you brought conservatives pitching a fit about commercials into this like that's some kind of major thing most of America would have cared about if the talking heads on Fox hadn't told them to get upset.
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Good for you although I wonder if you live in the US if you didnt hear about them because it was all over the news. All it was was outraged completely manufactured by conservative media over a couple commercials.
Basically, Bud Lite dared to have a trans person endorsing their product https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] and Gillette had a commercial where they encouraged men to act like good human beings in the context of the Metoo movement which was going hot at the time in 2019 https://www.youtube.com/watch? [youtube.com]
Re:"Small government" indeed. (Score:5, Insightful)
Pot, Kettle, Black (Score:5, Insightful)
Why is Trump telling Apple to bot use overseas labor when Trump is the guy who has all his merch made in China? If I didn't know any better (and I don't) then I would say he's a massive hypocrite (because he is).
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Even he will probably have to move his merch production to some other country besides China, depending on the conclusion of the tariff tiff. Meanwhile, you're asking the wrong question.
Why is Trump warning Apple not to use India, without mentioning any other country that they use (such as Vietnam)? Is he expecting India to be embroiled in a protracted war with Pakistan?
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He's not a hypocrite, he just likes RUMP.
https://www.kwtx.com/2025/05/1... [kwtx.com]
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1) IIRC, Apple didn't pay the inauguration-party 'donation': Time for increasing threats until they pay.
2) Trump needs to keep Fox News distracted, since they've started admitting more and more truths.
3) MAGA needs to be reminded that he's bringing jobs to the USA, so time to pretend he is 'making' jobs.
Economic illiterate (Score:5, Interesting)
For US citizens to pay more for their Apple tech than any other country in the world?
For Apple to charge the same but make no profit and go out of business?
To cut all US worker protections and turn the country into a 3rd world country paying workers $3 an hour?
One or more of these things will happen if companies like Apple are forced to manufacture in the USA. I do happen to agree that western countries have become too reliant on low cost Asian manufacturing, but Trump just has no idea how to solve that. You don't act like some kind of god, that when you decry it, it happens. It requires a well thought out plan that identifies key areas that can be re-developed in the USA. Trump will tank the US economy on his crusade.
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Apple products are so expensive that going from $3/hr to $30/hr wouldn't move the peg much. Also there are still places in the US paying $15-$20 for low level manufacturing/warehouse work. Chamber of Commerce types love that shit. Competitive wages!
Re: Economic illiterate (Score:2)
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How many man hours do you think it takes to produce an iPhone, not counting costs folded into BoM or design/r&d? Or to be more clear, what's the current labor cost associated with producing a new iPhone 17 pro max in India?
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So?
What if that difference is $5 because it's only 6 min an iPhone?
It's not just the labor cost that matters, but how much time is involved.
Re: Economic illiterate (Score:2)
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On top of all that, in a developed country like the US, there will be expensive HR staff, Health & Safe
Re: Economic illiterate (Score:3)
One thing to remember is even if the wage paid is $15/hr in the US any full time employment comes with a host of other taxes and obligations that are invisible to the employee but real to the company. When I've been involved in hiring the rule of thumb I was given was take the base salary and assume total cost to the company is 150% to 200% of that.
It's one of the reasons gig work is pushed so hard, you can circumvent a lot of that and push it back on the employee.
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>To cut all US worker protections and turn the country into a 3rd world country paying workers $3 an hour?
Those all fall into that nasty no-good category of "Regulations". Which are bad. Totally bad and disgusting. Why would you want any of *those* hanging around impeding profits?
No, best to get rid of those forthwith.
Uncertainty (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Uncertainty (Score:3)
Re: Uncertainty (Score:5, Insightful)
On Slashdot you use preview, and proofread before clicking Submit... or you take your chances.
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The Little People (Score:5, Funny)
Trump Tells Apple CEO To Avoid Manufacturing in India.
I just had a meeting, with Tim Apple, and we're going to bring back jobs, lots of jobs, screwing those little screws into iPhones, a bigly beautiful flood of minimum wage jobs, y'know, for the little people - that kind of thing is going to come to America now, lots of it, more of it than anything else ever, in history. Then, when the little people have screwed screws into iPhones for 12 hours, they can take a night shift at McDonalds and then work all weekend at Chick-Fil-A just to put food on the table. It's going to be awesome, bleeve me! Bleeve me!!
Re: The Little People (Score:2)
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I'll tell you what. Why don't you go to your neighborhood Chick-fil-A this Sunday and ask the people there whether they want to work, or like working, all weekend for the company?
Re: The Little People (Score:2, Troll)
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Clearly not, which is precisely why I suggested what I did. So why did you feel compelled to jump in, much less double down on it?
Re: The Little People (Score:3)
Remind me (Score:5, Insightful)
What is it called when a government dictates to private industry how and where to run its business?
Re:Remind me (Score:4, Interesting)
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Lol, so what? (Score:3)
What is he prepared to do about it?
He talks a good game but folds most of the time any pressure is kept up.
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> What is he prepared to do about it?
It ain't right but Apple's App Store monopoly might just get broken up if they insist on moving manufacturing to India.
It's actually interesting because last year they were saying China was the only option because you can get every size screw any time day or night because China was so specialized.
Now India has all that? Nope, it was never true, supply chain logistics are sufficient.
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LOL Trump breaking up a monopoly. And if it's a monopoly, why would it not be right to break it up? Do you not believe in free markets?
"It's actually interesting because last year they were saying China was the only option because you can get every size screw any time day or night because China was so specialized."
Who was saying this? Citation please. Chinese manufacturing is "so specialized"? Because they can manufacture anything?
"Now India has all that? Nope, it was never true, supply chain logistics
Noselength (Score:4, Insightful)
In Dutch, we have a saying: "He can't see further than his nose". Is he really that stupid? Hard to imagine... Oh well, let him clean up his own mess.
Re: Noselength (Score:2)
isn't this communism? (Score:2)
The political leader dictates what companies should do... seems a bit against the free market economy the West is based on!!
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Actually, the reference was from wikipedia.
The brutal truth (Score:5, Insightful)
Then MAGAt Maggie and Tommy Trumper can point at that to own the libz.
And will Cook listen to the dumb one? (Score:2)
Hardly. He may fake something for a while, but that is it.
If the Dictator says... (Score:2)
If the Orange Dictator says "don't manufacture in India", you'd better "don't manufacture in India", else said Orange Dictator will get angry and use whatever means he has at his disposal, legal or otherwise, to make life difficult for you. How there isn't uproar, I don't know.
FREE MARKETS!!! (Score:2)
What could be more laissez faire and small govt... (Score:2)
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Pointing out their hypocrisy makes them happy.
It is odd, though... (Score:4, Interesting)
Modern factories to produce electronic devices are almost entirely automated, especially for high-volume products. Labor costs are pretty minimal. Just yesterday I toured an electronics factory here in Switzerland - where labor costs are considerably higher than in the US. The factory has a number of US customers.
So, serious question: why don't US companies like Apple build their factories in the US?
Re: Tramp is communist. (Score:2)
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Conservatives do NOT believe in free markets, they believe in unregulated capitalism. Those are NOT the same, free markets require regulation to exist. Republicans have been dismantling that regulation since Reagan, that's why we are fucked.
But yes, money makes people think they are smart yet rich people are not smarter than poor people.
Re:Tramp is communist. (Score:5, Informative)
No, he's an authoritarian with fascist leanings. Authoritarians and fascists have never had any hesitation in ordering companies to do things.
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He is a fascist, not a communist. Trump wants to be the god-emperor of the USA and expects everyone to bow down and worship him.
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First paragraph of fascism on Wikipedia: Fascism (/fæzm/ FASH-iz-m) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived interest of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.
Don't confuse authoritarian com
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Lol. Apple's profit margin is 26%.
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As long as his executive orders are being followed without any pushback by Congress (remember them?) regarding jurisdiction or procedure, he is a defacto king.