Throughout his presidential campaigns, the US President-elect Donald Trump talked largely about domestic production. He inserted so much pressure on the US companies to put less reliance on facilities based overseas and instead bring all that back home. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was one of the main targets of such pressure. At some point, Trump called for a boycott of its products and threw in threats of steep import taxes if it did not move its production operations to the US shores.

It will be real achievement for Trump to have Apple build a big plant in the United States

Trump has revealed that he has talked with Apples CEO Tim Cook, the main discussion being getting Apple build iPhones in the country as oppose to other places the likes of China and Vietnam. Apparently, these two countries play host to many of Apple’s manufacturing partners. Surprisingly, the Cook will hardly talk about moving production to the United States even though Trump says he is optimistic that Apple will soon oblige given the incentives he will offer. On the hand, having big plants in the US will be a real time achievement for him.

He said, “I got a call from Tim Cook at Apple, and I said, ‘Tim, you know one of the things that will be a real achievement for me is when I get Apple to build a big plant in the United States, or many big plants in the United States, where instead of going to China, and going to Vietnam, and going to the places that you go to, you’re making your product right here.’”

But Apple benefits big from having its operations in China

It seems like whether or not Apple will move its production operations to the US will remain a tag of war because the iPhone maker is also looking at the gains and losses of doing so. For example the loss of low wages that it gets in China. On the other hand, its suppliers are located within close proximity of each other. Cook also argues that China has invested huge focus on manufacturing compared to the US which has a smaller workforce. Foxconn Technology Co Ltd (TPE:2354), which is one of Apple’s manufacturing partner claims that the US has higher production costs compared to China.

Nevertheless, it remains to be seen whether or not Apple, which presently contracts with 18 factories globally for its products will obligate to Trump’s demands. Meanwhile, Apple’s stock closed at $119.78 a decline of $0.21 or 0.18%