Transcript: President Trump, Apple CEO Tim Cook Manufacturing Announcement

So you become a utility. So congratulations. Now you’re in the utility. I hope I hope they don’t value your company based on utility. But that’s OK. You’re going to make you’re going to be making your own electricity.

And as you probably know, for much of this and much of many of the things that we’re doing, especially the A.I., they would actually double the electricity that the country now produces for everything. So it’s massive electric and they’re going to be able to make their own and they’re getting very fast approvals. Lee Zeldin is doing a fantastic job, including with a 100 percent expensing on the one big beautiful bill.

In return, we’re asking our businesses to invest in America and they’re coming in at levels that we’ve never seen before. So I don’t know when it shows up, but there are a lot of factories and a lot of plants that are either under construction or soon will be starting construction. So can’t tell you exactly when, but I want to be around in about a year from now and two years from now, because we’re going to see an explosion, I think, like this country has never seen before. Never.

America’s Economic Transformation

Today’s announcement is one of the largest commitments in what has become among the greatest investment booms in our nation’s history. And we’ve got the hottest country anywhere in the world. And I told you the story that and Tim, I’ll tell you, but I went to the Middle East and I was with Qatar. I was with UAE and the king of Saudi Arabia, all great leaders. And then I went to NATO and saw many great leaders. And we just finished that about four weeks ago.

Everyone virtually everyone said, in effect, that we were a dead country. One year ago, America, this was a dead country. We were dying. We were dead. And now you’ve got the hottest country anywhere in the world. This would have never happened except for certain people. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Other Major Corporate Investments

NVIDIA is investing 500 billion to go along with Apple, 600 billion, 600 billion. Micron, great company, is investing 200 billion. IBM is investing more than 150 billion. SoftBank is investing substantially more than 100 billion. TSMC is investing 200 billion. Johnson and Johnson, 55 billion. And Merck, Stellantis and General Motors are putting many, many billions in. They haven’t determined the final number. And many other countries are investing tens of billions of dollars that I’m not going to give you the whole list because the list is too long to read. But it’s hundreds of billions and even trillions. I mean, it’s trillions of dollars that’s being invested right now.

Economic Growth and Performance

Last week, it was announced that our economy grew at 3 percent in the second quarter. And consumer confidence is surging. Blue-collar wages are rising rapidly. Costs are way down. You know, I listened to these horrendous frauds on CNN and various other fake news networks. And they said costs are up. No, no, costs are down. Gasoline is down. It’s going to soon, I believe, be less than $2 a gallon. It’s around $2.40 right now, many places other than in California, where they tax you out of business and a couple of others. But gasoline is way down.

The price of groceries are down. How about eggs? When I first came here, my first week, the press hit me very hard on eggs. Eggs had quadrupled or something. I said, “I didn’t know about it. Give me a chance. I’ve just been here for four days.” Well, eggs are down. Everything’s down. Price is down. The only thing that’s up is stock prices. That’s really up. And that’s through the roof. The stock market has been hitting all-time records, all-time highs.

Last week, it was announced that our economy grew at levels that we haven’t seen in a long time. But the real levels of growth are going to be judged in a year from now, when you start seeing some of these incredible plans, because we have car plants opening. They’re coming in from Canada, from Mexico, and from all over the world. And they’re coming in because they like the way the election worked out, but they also like the fact that they don’t want to pay tariffs.

Tariff Revenue and Trade Deals

And the tariffs, I think, will be taken — well, we’re taking in hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs. I won’t be so specific, other than to say — because we don’t even know what the final number is. We just made a deal, as you know, with the EU, where they’re paying hundreds of billions of dollars, Japan paying hundreds of billions of dollars, and numerous other countries paying hundreds of billions of dollars. And we’re not even completed there. And as you know, they found $25 billion. Three weeks ago, they said, “We have a surplus of $25 billion.” And they said, “Where did this come from?” As they checked the tariffs, and they checked, they said, “You’re right, that’s where it came from.” And we’ve really just started. This is just in its infancy.

So we have a great country. We have a country that is going to be very rich. It’s a country that we’re very proud of, but it’s going to be very rich. And it’s companies like Apple, they’re coming home. They’re all coming home. And we want them to come home. They have to come home. We’re going to treat them really well.

Major Tariff Announcement on Chips and Semiconductors

We’re going to be putting a very large tariff on chips and semiconductors. But the good news for companies like Apple is, if you’re building in the United States or have committed to build, without question committed to build in the United States, there will be no charge. In other words, we’re not going to be charging. So a lot of countries, a lot of companies are leaving various other places than they’re coming to the United States.

So in other words, we’ll be putting a tariff on of approximately 100 percent on chips and semiconductors. But if you’re building in the United States of America, there’s no charge, even though you’re building and you’re not producing yet in terms of the big numbers of jobs and all of the things that you’re building. If you’re building, there will be no charge. So I just want everyone to know that. And I didn’t even tell you that inside. We discussed the concept, but I didn’t. So it’s a big factor.

So 100 percent tariff on all chips and semiconductors coming into the United States. But if you’ve made a commitment to build or if you’re in the process of building, as many are, there is no tariff. If for some reason you say you’re building and you don’t build, then we go back and get we add it up. It accumulates and we charge you at a later date. You have to pay. And that’s a guarantee.

So that’s a big statement. And I think the chip companies are all coming back home. They’re all coming back. You know, we started with Intel and gradually Intel was just taken over the over the calls. They were taken to the cleaners, frankly, and moved to other places, in particular Taiwan. But I think a lot of those companies are coming back and they’re coming back very rapidly. So that’s a big statement. One hundred percent tariff.

I want to thank you very much. Tim, would you like to say a few words about your company, please?

Tim Cook’s Remarks on Apple’s Investment

TIM COOK: Good afternoon, everyone. Mr. President, thank you very much for having me here today. You’ve been a great advocate for American innovation and manufacturing, and I’m grateful for your leadership and your commitment. That’s a commitment we share at Apple because American innovation is central to everything we do. Our products are designed here, we’re hiring and growing here, and we support 450,000 jobs with thousands of suppliers and partners in all 50 states.

Earlier this year, we made our largest ever spending commitment, $500 billion to the U.S. over the next four years. That’s already yielding results. Earlier this year, we broke ground on a new factory in Houston to make advanced AI servers. And just last month, the very first test unit rolled off that factory’s line, proudly made in America.

President Trump shared some kind words about that work, but he also asked us to think about what more we could commit to doing. And Mr. President, we took that challenge very seriously. I’m glad to be here with you today, and I’m very proud to say that today we’re committing an additional $100 billion to the United States, bringing our total U.S. investment to $600 billion over the next four years.

Apple’s American Manufacturing Program

As a part of this, we’re launching Apple’s American Manufacturing Program. It will spur even more production right here in America. We’re critical components used in Apple products all around the world. And we’re thrilled to announce that we’ve already signed new agreements with 10 companies across America to do just that.

First with today’s announcements, I’m proud to say that Apple is leading the creation of an end-to-end silicon supply chain right here in America, from design to equipment, to wafer production, to fabrication, to packaging. In Texas, we’re working with manufacturers like Texas Instruments, Global Wafers America, and Applied Materials. We’re working with Amcor in Arizona and Broadcom and Global Foundries in New York.

Thanks to President Trump’s vision and with his help in his first term, we also led the way to bring TSMC to Arizona by committing to be their first and largest customer. Today, they’re producing tens of millions of chips for Apple using one of the most advanced process technologies in America today. We’re going to keep working with our suppliers to move even more of this incredibly advanced work to America. And this year alone, American manufacturers are on track to make 19 billion chips for Apple in 24 factories across 12 different states.

Second, we’re committed to buying American-made advanced rare earth magnets developed by MP Materials, which will become part of Apple’s devices shipped around the world. MP is the only fully integrated rare earth producer in the United States. And with this partnership, they’ll be significantly expanding their flagship facility in Fort Worth, Texas. We’re also thrilled to work together on a cutting edge rare earth recycling line in Mountain Pass, California.

And third, in Kentucky, we’ve worked with our partners at Corning to build the world’s largest and most advanced smartphone glass production line. And I’m pleased to announce that very soon, this is for the first time ever, every single new iPhone and every single new Apple Watch sold anywhere in the world will contain cover glass made in Kentucky.

In addition to the American manufacturing program, we’re also significantly growing our investments in AI, including expanding data center capacity in North Carolina, in Nevada, in Iowa, in Arizona, and Oregon.

So we’re going to keep making investments right here in America. We’re going to keep hiring in America. And we’re going to keep building technologies at the heart of our products right here in America, because we’re a proud American company and we believe deeply in the promise of this great nation. Thank you all. And thank you, President Trump, for putting American innovation and American jobs front and center. Thank you, sir.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you. Thank you. What a job he’s done. What a job. Incredible. I want to thank you very much. And thank you, J.D., for helping along. Good job. Really good job. Any questions, please?

Q&A Session

REPORTER: Mr. President?

REPORTER: Mr. President? You’ve been on the campaign trail to bring forth a manufacturing renaissance. You just mentioned $17 trillion in your first seven months or so. Can you talk about how an investment like this, all the other ones that you laid out, will positively impact the millions of…

REPORTER: Brian? Yes, sir. Congratulations on this investment from President Trump. Thank you. Here’s a great example of putting America first. What does the labor force look like to fill these jobs that you have? Do we have enough skilled American workers to fill these?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, we do have a lot of workers, and we have a lot of workers that hadn’t been looking for work because they were disincentivized, frankly. And people like Tim have tremendous schools and training centers that they build, along with a lot of their big plants where they train people on whether it’s class, like in Kentucky, or computers, or whatever they might be doing. It’s a complex world, and they train people, and they do a great job. So it’s a whole new workforce.

Now, we have a lot of them in energy because, you know, they’ve always liked energy. As you know, coal has opened up and opened up big. We brought it back and brought it back in a very large way. You know, China’s right now building 58 coal-fired plants, 58 big ones. And here we were saying, “we don’t take coal.” We have more coal than anybody else in the world. We have more oil and gas than anybody else in the world.

But we have tremendous energy jobs, and the energy, as you know, we’re booming with energy. And that’s why the gasoline prices are down. Our costs are down. I just hope when they watch these shows, I watch this, I won’t use names because I just make them better known. Nobody knows who they are. But I watch this group of people on CNN, and MSDNC, too, the same thing, where they say, “well, costs have gone up.” Costs haven’t gone up. They’ve gone down. I’m telling you, the thing that’s gone up is stock, stock prices, and success of our country. Our country is really, really doing well, successful.

Russia-Ukraine Summit Discussions

REPORTER: Yes, ma’am. Yes, Mr. President, have Putin and Zelensky agreed to a summit yet? And where and when would that be?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, there’s a very good prospect that they will. And we haven’t determined where, but we had some very good talks with President Putin today. There’s a very good chance that we could be ending the round, ending the end of that road. That road was long and continues to be long, but there’s a good chance that there will be a meeting very soon.

REPORTER: How close do you think you are to a deal?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Excuse me?

REPORTER: How close do you think you are to some kind of deal?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, look, I don’t want to say. I’ve been disappointed before with this one. You know, we’ve solved five wars, plus add to that Iran, where we wiped out their nuclear capacity for weapons. They would have had a weapon within two months, maybe less. And that was totally obliterated. Turned out it was a total obliteration. And the pilots and the people that did that job, really, we have the greatest armed forces in the world, but that was really something.

New B-2 Bomber Display

In fact, there’s a model of the plane right there. Now, you got to bring that up, Susie. We have to see that. Look at this. This was just given to me. You know, we ordered brand-new B-2 bombers. This is a plane that, over a period of 36 hours, of constant flying, look at this. This is the brand-new one they just ordered. Similar, but actually quite different. It’s new and enhanced. It’s an amazing machine.

It went 36 hours. We had 52 tankers up in the air loading up our planes because this was surrounded by F-22s and F-35s. And it was flawless, Tim. Even you would say it was flawless, Dave. And every one of those bombs hit their target. And then we had tomahawks shot in from a submarine 300 miles away. And they hit every single tomahawk hit its target. It was amazing. And that was a big threat. That was a nuclear threat. And here’s the new one that we just ordered. A large number of them. I’ll put it up.

REPORTER: Mr. President, what was the breakthrough today? Did Vladimir Putin make some kind of concession that he hasn’t been willing to make before?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I don’t call it a breakthrough. I mean, we’ve been working on this a long time. There are thousands of young people dying, mostly soldiers, but also, you know, missiles being hit into Kiev and other places. But in terms of soldiers, I think Russia’s lost over 20,000 since the beginning of the year. 20,000. And I guess the estimate for Ukraine is about 9,000. It’s a terrible situation. We want to get it stopped.

You know, we don’t have American soldiers there, but I feel I have an obligation to get it stopped. This was not my war. This war would have never started, not even a chance. And it didn’t start for four years. It went four years, and it didn’t start. But this is Biden’s war. This was on his watch. And, you know, it’s funny. We had no land was taken from Trump. It was taken from Bush. It was taken from Biden. The whole thing would take from Biden. It weren’t for us. But it was, and it was taken by Obama. Take a look at what was taken with all of the land that was taken. Nothing was taken by Russia from us. Not one ounce of land was taken. I’m here to get the thing over with. It would have never started if I were president, and we’re here to get it stopped and get the death stopped.

REPORTER: Yeah, please. I never asked you if you would know if he was acting wrong. What makes you most confident that he is or is he not?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Can’t answer the question yet. I’ll tell you in a matter of weeks, maybe less. But we’ve made a lot of progress. And as you know, we put a 50% tariff on India on oil. They’re the second largest. They’re very close to China in terms of the purchase of oil from Russia. But so I don’t know if that had anything to do with it, but we’ve had very productive talks today.

D.C. Police Federalization Considerations

REPORTER: President Trump, on federalizing D.C., are you considering taking over the D.C. police? Is that an option on the table?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’re considering it, yeah, because the crime is ridiculous. I could show you a chart comparing D.C. to other locations, and you’re not going to want to see what it looks like. It was just up on television, actually, they were showing it. Now, we want to have a great, safe capital, and we’re going to have it. And that includes cleanliness and it includes other things. We have a capital that’s very unsafe.

You know, we just almost lost a young man, beautiful, handsome guy that got the hell knocked out of him the night before last. And I’m going to call him now. We wanted to give him a little recovery time. We just put a call into him. They’re calling back in a little while, but he went through a bad situation, to put it mildly, and there’s too much of it. We’re going to do something about it.

So whether you call it federalized or what, and that also includes the graffiti that you see, the papers all over the place, the roads that are in bad shape, the medians that are falling down, the median in between roads that’s falling down. We’re going to beautify the city. We’re going to make it beautiful. And what a shame, the rate of crime, the rate of muggings, killings, and everything else. We’re not going to let it. And

PRESIDENT TRUMP: that includes bringing in the National Guard, maybe very quickly too. And do you want Congress to look at overturning the D.C. Home Rule Act? We’re going to look at that. In fact, the lawyers are already studying it. We have to run D.C. This has to be the best run place in the country, not the worst run place in the country. And it has so much potential. And we’re going to take care of it. You’re going to be safe walking down the streets. You’re not going to get mugged.

REPORTER: Mr. President, if you do reach a deal with Ukraine and Russia, would you drop the additional tariffs on India?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, we’ll determine that later. But right now, they’re paying a 50% tariff. Okay?

REPORTER: I have a question. I have a question.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah, please.

REPORTER: One for Mr. Cook as well.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah, please, sure.

Made in the USA iPhone Discussion

REPORTER: The President wants a Made in the USA iPhone. What are the chances that he can actually make that happen?

TIM COOK: Well, if you look at the bulk of it, we’re doing a lot of the semiconductors here. We’re doing the glass here. We’re doing the Face ID here. So there’s a ton of it. And we’re doing these for products sold elsewhere in the world. And so there’s a lot of content in there from the United States.

REPORTER: But what about the whole thing? We’re very proud of it. Can you make the whole thing here?

TIM COOK: And just the final assembly that you’re focused on. And that will be elsewhere for a while.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: He makes many of the components here. And we’ve been talking about it. The final assembly is set up at other places and it’s been there for a long time so in terms of the cost at all but I think we may incentivize him enough that one day he’ll be bringing that but he brings most of the stuff look he’s not making this kind of an investment anywhere in the world not even close he’s coming back I mean Apple’s coming back to America

REPORTER: Indian officials have said that there are other countries that are buying Russian oil like China for instance. Why are you singling India out for these additional things?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: It’s only been eight hours so let’s see what happens over the next you’re going to see a lot more you’re going to see a lot more you’re going to see so much secondary sanctions yes ma’am.

mRNA Vaccines and Operation Warp Speed

REPORTER: You were the driving force behind Operation Warp Speed, these mRNA vaccines that are the gold standard. Now your health secretary is pulling back all the funding for research. He’s saying that the risks outweigh the benefits which puts him at odds with the entire medical community and with you. What is going on?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Research on what? Into mRNA vaccines. Well we’re going to look at that we’re talking about it and they’re doing a very good job and you know that is a pass. Operation Warp Speed was whether you’re Republican or Democrat considered one of the most incredible things ever done in this country. The efficiency, the way it was done, the distribution everything about it was it’s been amazing but you know that was now a long time ago and we’re on to other things but we are speaking about it we have meetings about it tomorrow actually tomorrow at 12 o’clock and we’ll determine.

We’re looking for other answers to other problems to other sicknesses and diseases and I think we’re doing really well. Yes ma’am.

Middle East Wars and Netanyahu

REPORTER: Thank you Mr. President. You said many times that you want to stop wars in the Middle East. Now Prime Minister Netanyahu is contemplating re-occupying Gaza entirely. Does he define you sir or are you giving him a green light?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well we have stopped wars in the Middle East by stopping Iran from having a nuclear weapon and they are you know they can say they’re going to start all over again but that’s a very dangerous thing for them to do because we’ll be back as soon as they start we’ll be back and I think they understand that it’s just words but no we stopped a lot of wars in the Middle East. If you think about what we did with Iran. Iran was the perpetrator of hate, a very evil place and I think it’s going to be a lot different in the coming years.

REPORTER: On the India penalty, do you have any similar plans to enact more tariffs on China as it relates to their purchase?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Could happen. Could happen. Depends on how we do. Could happen.

Entertainment Industry and Late Night TV

REPORTER: I’ve got an entertainment based question for you. A few weeks ago Stephen Colbert announced that he was leaving his job. Howard Stern announced that he and Sirius XM radio are parting ways. Do you think the hate Trump business model that’s been in the entertainment business is going out of business because it’s not popular to the American people?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well it hasn’t worked and it hasn’t worked really for a long time and I would say pretty much from the beginning. Colbert has no talent. I mean I could take anybody here I could go outside in the beautiful streets and pick a couple of people that do just as well or better. They get higher ratings than he did. He’s got no talent. Fallon has no talent. Kimmel has no talent. They’re next. They’re going to be going. I hear they’re going to be going. I don’t know but I would imagine because Colbert has better ratings than Kimmel or Fallon. You know that.

Howard Stern is a name I haven’t heard. I used to do a show. We used to have fun but I haven’t heard that name in a long time. What happened? He got terminated? Yeah. They’re going to separate wages. I think what they’re offering salary wise is real low. You know when he went down? When he went down? No. Before when he endorsed Hillary Clinton he lost his audience. People said give me a break. He went down when he endorsed Hillary Clinton.

Cabinet Interviews and Economic Growth

REPORTER: Mr. President have you started interviewing candidates yet?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah. We’ve started the interviewing process. Scott and I and Howard a lot of people. J.D. we’re all. We have some great candidates. It’s probably down to three. He doesn’t want the job. He said do you like this job better? Yes sir. I mean he was the candidate but I don’t think he’ll take it. I really don’t think he’d take it actually.

REPORTER: Are there any candidates from Wall Street Mr. President?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah. Essentially we’re all from Wall Street aren’t we? You know when you get right down to it. The term Wall Street. Yeah please.

REPORTER: You made your tax cuts permanent. You mentioned that the tariffs are bringing in a ton of external revenue. You’ve opened up markets. EU, Japan, South Korea, many others. American goods that we’ve never seen before. How much growth can we expect in the economy now that this model of yours is sort of beginning to really take off?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well I think the growth is going to be unprecedented. I think we’re going to have growth that’s unbelievable. Now remember we’re building and just starting to build a lot of these incredible plants. We talked about the electric facilities that we’re building. The generating plants, electric generating plants are massive and they’re going to be great. And they’re going to sell excess electricity into our grid. So we’re going to be having much more electricity than we ever had. And those plants are going to be taken care of individually. I know Tim is building one in one of his big factories. But especially for AI because it needs so much electricity. So I appreciate the question very much and I think the growth is going to be unprecedented.

REPORTER: Mr. President, have you spoken to Andrew Cuomo?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I haven’t. No I haven’t.

REPORTER: Mr. President, have you been briefed on what Ghislaine Maxwell told Todd Blanche?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: No I haven’t. I have not. I don’t know. I know Todd is a very respected person all over the country. All over the world legally still. I don’t know.

REPORTER: Mr. President.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah please go ahead.

REPORTER: Will the new government be temporary?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’re probably going to go with a temp and then a permanent I think. So the temp is going to be named I’d say over the next two, three days. And then we’re going to go permanent.

REPORTER: Are the two Kevins the leading contenders for the permanent spot for the chair?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, the two Kevins? The two Kevins are absolutely. They’re both very good.

REPORTER: Mr. President. The two Kevins is very good. Mr. President, is the White House events hosting a gathering this evening to talk about how to respond to the FC situation?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Is he working on what? Is he hosting some kind of gathering of top advisors this evening to talk about how to respond to the FC situation? I don’t

I could ask you that question. I don’t know of it, but I think… Here’s the man right here. I saw it reported today and it’s completely fake news. We’re not meeting to talk about the FC situation. And I think the reporter who reported it needs to get better sources. Look, the whole thing is a hoax. It’s put out by the Democrats because we’ve had the most successful six months in the history of our country.

REPORTER: Mr. President.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah, please.

REPORTER: A new Gallup poll says that Elon Musk is the most unpopular public figure in the country right now. I’m wondering, do you miss having him around the White House or is that poll accurate?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I don’t know if the poll is accurate. I think he’s a good person. I think he had a bad moment. Really bad moment. But he’s a good person. I believe that.

REPORTER: President Trump, are you keeping that 10 to 12 day deadline? China is a potential secondary sanction for Russian oil. Then having that sanction rather or not hinges on what’s going on.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: It may happen. I mean, I don’t know. I can’t tell you yet, but we did it with India. We’re doing it probably with a couple of others. One of them could be China, yes.

REPORTER: Are you keeping that 10 to 12 day deadline that you have given Russia after today’s talks?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah, we’re pretty much getting close to it right now. But we’re having very serious talks right now about getting out of Ukraine, getting it settled, getting it ended. Should have never started. Would have never started. If I were president, I would have never started.

Closing Remarks

I want to thank Tim Cook. He’s a great, great man, a visionary, a businessman. Just about every quality you can have other than athleticism. I don’t know. I’m looking at him. I’m looking at him. I’m not. I’m not 100 percent sure about you. You’re a good athlete. I’ll bet you’re pretty good. I think he’s good at everything. But I want to thank you very much, Tim. Congratulations. Thank you all very much.

Related Posts

• President Trump Remarks on US, Israel Attacking Iran (Transcript)
• President Trump on Economy, Energy in Corpus Christi, TX (Transcript) 
• Bulwark Podcast: w/ Susan Glasser on Trump’s State of the Union address (Transcript)
• Douglas Macgregor: US-Iran Diplomacy Fail (Transcript)
• The Truth About Trump’s State of the Union w/ Sen. Bernie Sanders (Transcript)