During today's earnings call covering the third quarter of 2019, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Apple wants to continue making the Mac Pro in the United States.
Cook made the statement in response to a question about Apple potentially moving Mac Pro production out of the United States due to looming tariffs on components imported from China.
There's been a lot of speculation around the topic of different moves and so forth. I wouldn't put a lot of stock in those. The way I view that is the vast majority of our products are kind of made everywhere.
Cook went on to explain that products and components are made in the United States, Japan, Korea, China, Europe, and other places. "That's the nature of a global supply chain," he said. "I think that will carry the day, in the future as well."
As for the Mac Pro specifically, Cook said that Apple is continuing to invest in its U.S. production facilities.
We've been making the Mac Pro in the United States and we want to continue doing that. We're working and investing currently in the capacity to do so. We want to continue to be there. That's what's behind the exclusions.
Apple has been manufacturing the current Mac Pro in Texas since its 2013 launch, but a June report from The Wall Street Journal said that the upcoming 2019 Mac Pro will be assembled by Quanta Computer in China.
In a statement at the time, Apple said that "final assembly is only one part of the manufacturing process" explaining that the Mac Pro is designed and engineered in California and includes U.S.-made components.
Apple in July asked for a U.S. import tariff exemption on parts for the new Mac Pro, which President Trump said would be denied.
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