Amaya Toman Apple officially announced on Monday that the next generation of its Mac Pro will be manufactured in Austin, Texas. This is a step by which the company wants to avoid paying high tariffs imposed on production in China as part of the long-term and intense trade disputes between the two countries.
At the same time, Apple was granted an exemption, thanks to which the company will be exempt from paying customs duties on selected components imported for the Mac Pro from China. According to Apple, the new Mac Pro models will contain more than twice as many components made in the United States. “The Mac Pro is Apple's most powerful computer, and we're proud to build it in Austin. We thank the government for the support that allowed us to take advantage of this opportunity," said Apple CEO Tim Cook in his official statement.
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US President Donald Trump indicated in one of his tweets in July of this year that he rejected Apple's request for an exemption for the Mac Pro. He said at the time that Apple would not be granted a tariff exemption and called on the company to make its computers manufactured in the United States. A little later, however, Trump expressed his admiration for Tim Cook and added that if Apple decided to manufacture in Texas, he would certainly welcome it. Cook later said in a note to analysts that Apple still wants to continue manufacturing the Mac Pro in the United States and that it is exploring available options.
The previous version of the Mac Pro was manufactured in Texas by Flex, an Apple contract partner. Apparently, Flex will also undertake the production of the latest generation of Mac Pro. However, a significant portion of Apple's product portfolio continues to be manufactured in China, with the aforementioned tariffs already in effect on a number of products. Customs duties will apply to iPhones, iPads and MacBooks from December 15 this year.
