Trump says Tim Cook has ‘eyes open’ on US-assembled iPhones, Apple wants to do ‘something major’

In a new interview with Axios, President-elect Donald Trump shared his latest expectations on Apple bringing iPhone production stateside as he has previously demanded. Although there is much speculation about the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of such a move, Trump believes Apple CEO Tim Cook would like to pursue something big related to Apple’s U.S. manufacturing…

In a brief statement when asked about Apple and U.S. iPhone production during the interview with Axios, Trump asserted that Cook may be more open to the idea then before.

His take on Apple and making the iPhone in the U.S., a campaign trail staple: Trump claimed Tim Cook has his “eyes open to it” and that Cook “really believe he loves this country and I think he’d like to do something major here.

Since tech leaders joined Trump for a meeting last month, Cook hasn’t shared many details on the tech summit except for explaining why he felt it was important. He wrote to Apple employees saying:

…it’s important to engage with governments everywhere, including in the United States, the European Union, China, and South America. “You don’t change things by just yelling,” […] “You change things by showing everyone why your way is the best.”

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos shared more about what was covered and accomplished at the Trump meeting with The Washington Post.

I found today’s meeting with the President-elect, his transition team, and tech leaders to be very productive. I shared the view that the administration should make innovation one of its key pillars, which would create a huge number of jobs across the whole country, in all sectors, not just tech–agriculture, infrastructure, manufacturing–everywhere.

Last week a Sharp executive told Nikkei about a potential $8B U.S. Foxconn LCD plant, and earlier this month Apple confirmed a $1B contribution to Softbank’s ‘Vision Fund‘ which is reportedly going to be a catalyst in creating 50K U.S. jobs.