Apple wants to make iPhones in US, says Trump official, but they’re waiting for ‘the robotic arms’

Apple wants to build iPhones in America, according to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. They’re just “waiting for the robotic arms” to arrive.

The Trump official made the comment during an interview on CNBC today. When asked when Apple will assemble the iPhone in California, not just design it, Lutnick pointed to Apple’s recent $500 billion U.S. investment pledge that covers AI servers and a new factory in Texas.

Then the Commerce Secretary said that he talked to Apple CEO Tim Cook the other day and asked about U.S. iPhone production.

Lutnick says Cook told him that he needs robotic arms to make iPhones in America and that employing foreign people is his biggest risk. Lutnick also says that factory jobs assembling iPhones won’t involve turning screws because Americans will be the technicians driving the factories.

He said, “I need to have the robotic arms to do it at a scale and a precision that I can bring it here. And the day that I see that available, it’s coming here because I don’t like to employ all these people, foreign. That’s my biggest risk.”

To be clear, this is Lutnick saying what he says Cook told him and not something Cook publicly said. Here’s Lutnick in context, including saying that people take his statements out of context:

The Trump administration announced tariffs on imports from China as high as 145% earlier this month, but Apple managed to secure exemptions for a period.