Trump-China trade war latest: Brave patriot Apple decides to do exact same thing, will still make Mac Pro in US Apple has proudly announced it will make its next-generation Mac Pro at its plant in Texas after it received federal tariff exclusions on parts imported from China into America. “As part of its commitment to US economic growth, Apple today confirmed that its newly redesigned Mac Pro will be manufactured in Austin, Texas,” the …
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If you can't see how Trump's trade war against China resembles what has happened in the UK, there is probably no point in my trying to get you to understand.
I was citing the effect of tariffs, which are similar to the effect of depreciation when it comes to the price of imports, and pointing out that if most people in the UK haven't noticed,perhaps they will not in the US.
I was worried the app I have on my iPhone that tracks the people who built it would stop working. The main stats are how many Foxconn/Apple employees either commit suicide [1] or are unpaid school children [2] (or both - double points). Seems like this only affects 8.8% [3] of Apple's business though, so hopefully the app will keep updating.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn_suicides
2. https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/08/09/amazon_report_china_labor_watch/
3. https://www.investopedia.com/apple-s-5-most-profitable-lines-of-business-4684130
Absolutely I do. Basic respect for my fellow man does not allow me to ignore the incredible suffering of others because I want a new shiny thing at a good price. I do not shop on Amazon. I do not buy or use the services of Apple or Google or Acer, Cisco, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Huawei, Intel, Microsoft, Motorola, Nintendo, Sony, Nike, Adidas, Nestlé, Dyson, Vodafone or Yankee Candle. I do have trouble keeping track of all my personal boycotts but it helps me sleep at night so it's worth it. Actually it's my vanilla Yankee Candle that gets me to sleep at night, I'm such a hypocrite but that's my one alowance. I understand that every country has to go through a painful industrial revolution where the masses move from the country to the city and a generation or two lives without decent healthcare and breathes unbreathable air in order that their children can grow fat in office jobs. It seems to me though that as a westerner I have been profiting off that for too long. Perhaps if I buy more goods made in factories without basic safety controls they will get over their growing pains more quickly but I don't believe that. I believe I am profiting from their suffering. Each to their own. It's interesting to me that you took this personally.
“The value of American-made components in the new Mac Pro is 2.5 times greater than in Apple’s previous generation Mac Pro.” Note the word “value” in there – not number."
From the US perspective value is all that matters - it means 2.5x the $$$ going into the US economy instead of the Chinese one - which is the whole point.
Reality is Apple did a deal with Trump - Apple significantly increased the amount of money they put into the US economy, Trump dropped tariffs. Everything is a negotiation with him.
The Mac Pro is a very low volume device, they aren't selling them by the million so this isn't going to amount to much money. The 2.5x more could be accounted for by using a more expensive Intel CPU and buying RAM from Micron instead of Samsung or Elpida. The value of Chinese made parts could easily be the same as before.
The 2.5x more could be accounted for by using a more expensive Intel CPU and buying RAM from Micron instead of Samsung or Elpida.
Or maybe tax breaks for Apple? Our guy in charge is either very shrewd or very uninformed on many things like the import tax he thinks is paid by China and not the end consumer.
You guys are all wrong. The word "value" has nothing to do with the word "cost" or "price". It's not about $$$. It's a completely meaningless buzzword, that could mean anything, such as the perfectly subjective value the buyer sees in it. Eg, a modern computer has much more value for use than an old one, while still costing less. And look, that's precisely what they're doing here, comparing the subjective value of the latest model to the previous, now obsolete model.
Just look at how the word "value" is used in advertisement...
Apple has assembled the Mac Pro at its factory in Austin since 2013.
Actually, this sentence is "half true".
It is true that Apple has been assembling the Mac Pro since 2013, however, the factory is small (compared to ones in China).
Not only is the factory small but the "target market" for the output are for high-end music studios, graphics houses and/or Hollywood-style film production studios.
The prices are more expensive than the Made in China variety and are out of reach for the majority of the American public.
So this announcement is actually a "hallowed statement".
Are you saying that all Mac Pros are manufactured at this factory, but because the number of Mac Pros sold is less than other models, because they're sold to a certain target market, and (possibly) because they're made in the USA they're more expensive then other Macs like the iMac?
Or are you saying that some Mac Pros are manufactured in China, and these are cheaper than Mac Pros which are manufactured in the USA and then sold to a certain target market? In this case, are you saying that only certain configurations of the computer are manufactured in the USA? Or are you saying that Apple somehow manages to get certain higher-end customers to buy the same product at a premium price?
These days, I don't believe anything is true, no matter how reasonable. These days, anything could be true, no matter how unreasonable. So, thanks for clarifying.
Are you saying that all Mac Pros are manufactured at this factory, but because the number of Mac Pros sold is less than other models, because they're sold to a certain target market, and (possibly) because they're made in the USA they're more expensive then other Macs like the iMac?
The US factory doesn't churn a lot out. I don't have the numbers, HOWEVER, because the output is very low, the price is high. Very high.
Also, some people (in Apple) like to brag that this factory churns out "custom-made" Mac Pros, hence, the price tags.
The factory exist, not (just) because of this, but also gives Apple a "tax benefit": Factory sits inside US territory and has a monthly output >1. This means Apple is entitled for the tax minimization break.
Apple has assembled the Mac Pro at its factory in Austin since 2013.
Actually, this sentence is "half true".
The statement is 100% true. Not half.
The Mac Pro has been assembled by Flextronics at their Austin factory since 2013. All of them.
It is true that the Mac Pro is a niche, high-end product for creative professionals, which is why they make it in the US - because it is a low-volume product and most orders are slightly-custom, which does not suit the FoxConn way of doing things (make 10million identical 64GB iPhones, then make 10million 128GB iPhones, rinse and repeat).
It is true that crowing about "Assembled in the USA" is a bit hollow when the vast majority of their products are assembled in China and most of the components come from China or Taiwan one way or another.
But the statement is true and there has been no "Made in China" variety of Mac Pro since 2013.
Lost in this is the point of the trade war with China is force China to abide by international norms or make it expensive to source from China. Realistically only a fraction of the jobs moved from China will migrate back to the US but many will migrate to other countries in the region really hurting China but boosting countries like Viet Nam or India; the jobs will somewhere. That is assuming China does not cave in.
Can't they trade it for Mexico, or both countries build some factories around either side of the border creating jobs for your southern compadres and cutting on transport costs in addition to bringing the countries closer together you live on the same piece of rock anyway!
(P.S. I totally stole this idea from the Montezuma Strip)
only a fraction of the jobs moved from China will migrate back to the US
and a whole lot of jobs will migrate to other parts of the Asian region. The US has been used to a very, very compliant Phillipines. What'll they do when the Filipinos get a pair and stand up to Uncle Sam? And Uncle Sam discovers that they can't do a thing? Etc ...
There was a story in the grauniad last week about Britax, the child car seat company. They have a factory in the US which makes the seats from components many of which are imported from China (e.g. fabrics). They pay tariffs on those imports.
Their competitors, who import complete seats from china, do not pay tariffs on those imports because there is an exception for safety products. So Britax may move manufacturing to China to avoid the tariffs.
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