Spokesperson from the Presidential Office asserts Donald Trump’s belief in iPhone manufacturing success in the United States due to ample workforce and resources.

The spokesperson of the White House Karoline Leavitt confirmed that President Donald Trump believes that Apple can indeed move the production base of iPhones to the United States as the country has sufficient workforce and resources, in addition to Apple’s $500 billion investment plan in the US.

Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick stated in the past week that the implementation of new import taxes may lead to millions of workers assembling iPhones in the United States.

However, critics point out that the $500 billion investment is a regular expenditure for Apple, as both Steve Jobs and Tim Cook have long stated that manufacturing iPhones in the US is “not feasible.”

In 2010 and 2011, Jobs explained to President Barack Obama that the US lacked 30,000 engineers compared to China’s 700,000 skilled workforce. Cook reiterated this issue in 2017, emphasizing that China excels in having a significantly larger pool of highly skilled engineers than the US.

Source: The Verge

TLDR: Despite speculations, Apple’s $500 billion investment in the US is considered a routine expenditure and manufacturing iPhones in the country continues to be deemed unfeasible by industry experts and company executives.