What’s inconceivable is that someone who’s a college graduate is so ignorant of manufacturing, supply chains, and labor costs.
Administration: Why in the world do supplies need to be chained up?
What’s inconceivable is that someone who’s a college graduate is so ignorant of manufacturing, supply chains, and labor costs.
certainly not the USI wonder who taught them the skills required for that manufacturing. 🤔
In reality, you shouldn’t trust anyone in the US government, some just make the 💩💩💩 seem more believable….Navarro is the dude who made up his own pen-named source to cite in his writings so he could cite himself for fake data for his crazy bs. No one should ever trust anything that comes out of his mouth (or quill)
Honestly, I wouldn’t buy any tech made in America.Like him or hate him, Trump is asking Apple to do something that's basically impossible.
Let's take a basic example: could Apple source all the small and tiny screws for all their products from USA manufacturers only?
And if they could, would those manufacturers be able to meet Apple's tolerances and production volumes?
If the answer is no to something as basic as tiny screws, then you can easily imagine the rest of the components such as ribbon cables, machined casings and buttons, glued seals, LCD displays, cameras, RAM, CPUs, etc.
I'm all for the idea that each country should try to make their own products as much as possible, but it has to be within the realm of what's possible. As an example, I don't expect to be able to buy bananas grown in Canadian fields.
Honestly, I wouldn’t buy any tech made in America.
Navarro went on to say that it is "inconceivable"
Glad Trump is pushing Apple on this. All the comments here are 'REEEEEE, i cant have my cheap Apple electronics manufactured in the lowest labor cost country possible'. 😂
Time to pony up and start paying $1600 for an iPhone, and only buying one every 3 to 5 years, if thats what you can afford.
Or buy something else that you can afford.
I knew a Princess Bride reference would make it into here.
its tariff loopholes, why manufacture it in America if you can do it in cheaper in other places an think it still American product.So if American companies should only manufacturer their products in America... then why did so many American companies move their production overseas in the first place?
And this isn't some recent thing... it's been happening for a looong time.
1950s Doc Brown was shocked to see "Made in Japan" on a component:
The folks who realized their standard of living would improve if they moved from assembly lines to design and IP creation while helping the Chinese farmers standard of living improve by moving from ploughing fields to building iPhones.
Well Japan in the 1950s wasn't in the best condition to be doing massive manufacturing and exporting. Kinda like most of early '50s Europe.Not to mention where Japan was in tech in that period verses companies much closer to the U.S. for trade.
Great. We now know that was one of the dumbest ideas in the history of the world and we’ve allowed an expansionist dictatorship to amass a large industrial base while gutting our own.
Tim seems like he’s picked sides, now it’s probably time for the US to look into that deal he made with the CCP and decide what sections of U.S. Code may be applicable.
No, just no.In reality, you shouldn’t trust anyone in the US government, some just make the 💩💩💩 seem more believable….
I thought he is already destroying American economies by introducing his stupid liberation day tariff war already? Cherry on cake, he gets mad when other countries retaliate.First, he is killing Tesla, now Apple. Is he trying to destroy American companies?
This is a story because Apple is involved. Full stop.How is this a story ?
Of course the administration wants it made in the USA and Apple wants it made wherever it can make the most profit.
Yeah I think he has got his mission accomplished alright.He might succeed without even trying.![]()
Nah, all people serving trump administration never let themselves educated and never will. Trump wants the entire American population to be uneducated, and purge those that were educated outside of his close circles.Navarro should learn basic Economics first! Before threatening Apple
So farmers can’t afford legal workers because visas are expensive, don’t want American workers because they are just too bad. And because of ICE raids illegal workers won’t show up for work.This is the same administration whose Ag secretary said Americans will replace immigrant labor in the fields, she should speak to a former governor of georgia and see how well that idea worked. My favorite is the farmer who complained his workers weren’t showing up due to fears of ICE raids, and then saying he doesn’t hire those eon a legal worker visa because they are too expensive and can’t hire Americans because they can’t do the work as efficiently or for the pay the farms offered.
Unfortunately the entire American executive branch (and the only branch with power) is filled with stupid people, and we have to endure their onslaught to America for at least 3 more years. It’s unthinkable.Which makes that great American philosopher, Ron White, even more prescient:
“You can’t fix stupid. Don’t even try…”
First, he is killing Tesla, now Apple. Is he trying to destroy American companies?
Not even if Trump whines and cries and stamps his feet and shakes his tiny little hands in the air?There's no way it can easily be moved to the U.S.
Yeah. The general goal for a company is to pay as little as possible to make a product, and sell it for as much as possible. It's sort of their entire purpose of existing.Or Apple doesn't want to because they make a LOT more profit if iPhones are made in China with the slave labor workers.
The US currently has near record low unemployment-- 4.1%. As recent history shows, that seems right around the threshold before inflation takes off-- in other words the US is at full employment:
One of the moast well-known cases of a U.S. company being acquired by China occurred in 2013, when WH Group (formerly Shuanghui International) bought Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer, for $4.7 billion. The purchase included more than 60,000 hectares of agricultural land in the U.S., raising concerns about food sovereignty.
Not even if Trump whines and cries and stamps his feet and shakes his tiny little hands in the air?
The challenge with the number is you also have to look at people who do not have jobs but are not actively seeking employment and are excluded form the unemployment calculation.
In 2025, the civilian labor force was approximately 170.5 million people. The number not looking for work, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics data, was 102.5 million people aged 16 or older. Of that about half are over 65 and excluding them makes sense. So that leaves about 50 million uncounted unemployed people; which if included would change the unemployment percentage. There are a number of reasons for not seeking employment for working age people, but if only 15% of the 50 million want jobs but gave up looking for one becasue they can't find one, the unemployment rate would about double.
So-- there's no real pool of workers to rely on here. The labor market is about as tight as its ever been and we still haven't fully brought inflation back under control. Shifting to an industrial economy again is going to be disruptive as we try to build the capital equipment and move workers from jobs they're currently doing to jobs they're not yet trained to do. All so the US can focus on manufacturing rather than the things it has evolved away from manufacturing to specialize in.
At any rate, the type of labor needed to increase US manufacturing is likely to be highly skilled and unlikely to be a significant percentage of the folks in the U-6 category. Developing the needed killed workforce is likely a generational undertaking, not something that can happen in a few years.
Oh, I agree it is a tight market, my point was the U-3 rate is misleading in terms of the pool of workers available for the overall workforce, a better gauge is the U-6 rate which is a broader message of people who would work if they could find jobs as it include discourage as well as under-employed. It is around 7-8%, lower than the long term rate of 10%.
The point I keep trying to make though is that it's not about how many people are in the pool, however you measure the pool, it's about how small the pool can be before inflation takes off. Whether you say it's a U3 of 4% or a U6 of 7%, the point is that trying to further expand the economy will drive inflation.
We're essentially at the "non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment". As we agree though, it won't be a sudden expansion of the economy because the workforce isn't ready for it. A major shift in the skills demanded by the economy won't expand the economy, it will simply increase structural unemployment because the workforce won't fit the jobs that are available.