The company successfully appealed for tariff exemptions for some of its products, and a new US investment may be a way to secure further protection from Trump’s new charges. Apple has not confirmed how many of the new investments were already planned before Trump took office.
Apple plans to invest more than $500 billion in the U.S. in the next four years. Calling it its “largest-ever spend commitment,” the tech giant on Monday (Feb. 24) announced that this plan will involve hiring 20,000 workers, and opening a manufacturing facility in Houston to make servers to support Apple Intelligence, the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) system.
"He's investing hundreds of billions of dollars," Trump said after his meeting with Cook at the end of last week, adding that the executive is ramping up US investments because he wants to avoid tariffs. Earlier this month, Trump imposed a 10% US levy on Chinese imports, where Apple manufactures most of its iPhones, iPads, Macs, and other products. In a tit-for-tat effort, Beijing announced retaliatory tariffs on US goods shortly after.