
Trump to Apple: 'Make your products' in the US to avoid tariffs - kiyanwang
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/405707-trump-to-apple-make-your-products-in-the-us-to-avoid-tariffs
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mariodiana
I remember reading a story about the manufacturing and shipping of the first
iPhone. Late into the process, Steve Jobs threw a (justified) fit over the
fact that the screen was to be made of plastic. He (rightly) complained that
people would be putting the phone in their pockets with their keys, and the
thing would be scratched up in no time. This, he declared, would not do.

So, what happened next, in short, is that the Chinese factory was contacted
and—in order to keep to schedule, which Apple refused to change—the foremen
woke up all the line workers, who were asleep in their company provided
dormitories, roused them out of bed, told them that there was time enough to
get dressed and have a quick cup of tea, after which they would have to get
their selves onto the assembly line and start work immediately, as there had
been a big change.

This is not going to happen in the United States—ever. And this, above all
else, is a big reason why companies want to use Chinese manufacturing.

I share this only to raise the point that we live in interesting times, and
they're about to get even more interesting.

~~~
GenerocUsername
Horrible that a work force essentially kept in company camps can be woken in
the night to get back to work because a higher-up decided to change something
obvious last-second.

I would hope this would not happen in 'Merica.

~~~
gonyea
Well, they’re from villages all across China. They need somewhere to live and
it might as well not have a commute.

Nearly every large employer in China has employee housing of some sort,
including government agencies. Every single manufacturer has dorms.

~~~
badlucklottery
I think the issue is more that the employees are on-call 24/7\. On-site
housing is just a way to make that happen.

~~~
mariodiana
I used to work for a catering hall that was, decades ago, a resort. The
cottages on the property, that once used to house guests, housed the (illegal
alien) kitchen workers. The owner (and his managers) used to wake everyone up
and get them into the kitchen, unexpectedly, if something went wrong—which
might mean only management's planning.

It cannot be ignored that—however convenient it may be for workers—the
arrangement is easy for management to abuse.

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chmod775
By now the Chinese are going to have a lot of modern high-tech mass-market
manufacturing know-how that is likely lacking severely in the United States.
Not to mention the logistics of building that kind of supply chain from zero
and overnight, or the fact that 95% of the world's rare-earths originate from
China - many of which are necessary to build iPhones etc.

Good luck with moving all that to the US!

~~~
sonnyblarney
The supply chain issue is not rocket science we already do that with cars.

Rare-earths are not actually rare.

The know-how is kind of a problem, but it's really the cheap labour, the zero
rights they have (i.e. work now for 12 hours a day no bathroom break), the
externalization of things like pollution etc..

It's possible to move most of that to the US ... but it would be complex and
expensive. There's no reason to do it today.

~~~
adamiscool8
Reducing dependency on an exploitative, rights-abusing, polluter nation seems
like a good reason to do it today?

~~~
sonnyblarney
Of course it does, I was being cynical about 'no need'. This is the position
of big business and free traders.

Trump is right on some level to want to bring some manufacturing home, I just
don't think he's smart enough to consider how, what or why.

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rdlecler1
>"It is difficult to see how tariffs that hurt U.S. companies and U.S.
consumers will advance the Government's objectives with respect to China's
technology policies," Apple

Wow. Then they are not trying very hard. The tariffs put pressure on China’s
supply chain. Too expensive in China, then manufacturing to Vietnam hurting
the Chinese economy. Let’s remember nothing has worked with China before.

We talk about low consumer prices like this should dictate all of our policies
but who cares about low prices on electronic goods if you don’t have jobs to
pay for housing, education, and food.

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glandium
An article I read about those tariffs, but I don't remember where, raised an
interesting point: even if they wanted to, how are Apple, and other companies,
supposed to find the millions of workers this would require, when unemployment
is rather low?

~~~
rdlecler1
Robots?

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Batman8675309
It will sure be interesting to see if they go through with this, or if Apple
will keep making their devices in factories with suicide prevention fences.

------
wbl
And meanwhile Trump raised tariffs on intermediate products not final
products.

~~~
robbyt
Yes, I run a small synthesizer company on the side and do our own assembly,
which has become 30% more expensive because the tarrifs cover things like
capacitors, resistors, potentiometers, which are all components for our
products.

We've always done our own assembly to ensure quality, and to reduce costs...
But now because of these tarrifs we are considering shutting down or possibly
off-shoring assembly.

~~~
yesenadam
Oh cool, which company?

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hsienmaneja
One likely scenario if Trump continues to get his way is that we’re going to
see a generational downturn. Such a thing has been a normal, healthy part of
our economy historically. Perhaps we will see five years of a nasty bear
market which we have not seen in a long time. It will be the buying
opportunity of a lifetime.

The new reality of America first will require a serious growing pains. Such as
Apple and other companies fundamentally thinking how they approach
manufacturing

~~~
SamReidHughes
Our generational downturn is already being caused by housing policy and the
highly wasteful healthcare and education sectors. Bringing some manufacturing
in-house won't do anything on that scale.

~~~
hsienmaneja
There’s no such downturn yet

~~~
SamReidHughes
Well, you might want to look at the age people are having kids in some parts
of the country.

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craftyguy
I don't understand why Congress doesn't Article I, Section 8, Paragraph 1
Trump into line. The president should not have unlimited, unchecked power to
do anything by just appending "because national security" to an executive
order.

~~~
gumby
He's letting the GOP, which controls congress, mostly get what they want, so
it wouldn't make any sense to cut him off. In addition his popularity _among
their base_ is still quite high, so again, why cut him off.

(Nothing in the above statement above should be taken to imply that I oppose
_or_ support any member of the legislative or executive branches.)

------
chmaynard
Google to Apple: Don't cave. This moron will be out of office before the end
of the year.

~~~
rocketpastsix
It wont be that soon.

~~~
raister
Rejoice fellow americans: Trump is the proof you have a solid democracy with
strong institutions. Russia messing around and mingling on everything and you
still manage to stay on top. Kudos for you, with a little jealousy, because I
am Brazilian, and we remove presidents every once in a while (twice since I
started voting). For MUCH less.

