Fact-checkers are taking issue with President Donald Trump over his claims to have opened a major Apple factory in Texas yesterday.
In fact, the Associated Press points out that the factory has been running since 2013. You know, six years ago.
“Today I opened a major Apple Manufacturing plant in Texas that will bring high paying jobs back to America,” Trump tweeted Wednesday evening.
https://t.co/ytr7dRvbUc pic.twitter.com/G6lGfyxSUs
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 21, 2019
As I noted when Trump’s factory tour was first announced, Apple is building the new Mac Pro in the same facility it has used for Mac Pro production since 2013. Previous rumors indicated assembly would move back to China after Apple lined up a deal with Quanta. However, Apple says it will keep Mac Pro manufacturing stateside as part of the company’s commitment to U.S. economic growth.
It’s true that the Trump administration agreed to waive tariffs on Mac Pro parts from China. This likely had a lot to do with Apple continuing to manufacture in the United States. Apple also has started construction on a new campus in Austin, Texas. This $1 billion campus will open in 2022. It will initially house 5,000 workers, with the capacity to grow to 15,000.
However, neither of these are the same as opening a new manufacturing plant.
Donald Trump’s Mac Pro factory visit
This isn’t the only criticism about yesterday’s visit of Trump to the Mac Pro factory. Daring Fireball writer John Gruber wrote damningly of how the visit, and particularly Apple CEO Tim Cook posing alongside the president, looks like a Trump re-election campaign photo.
“This wasn’t a promotion for the Mac Pro or its assembly plant,” Gruber writes. “It was a promotion for Trump. [The video footage of the event] makes it look like Trump’s trade policies have been good for Apple and that Tim Cook supports Trump. Both of those things are false.”
Source: AP News
