- President Donald Trump visited Apple’s Austin manufacturing plant on Wednesday, and CEO Tim Cook gave him a tour.
- Apple produces the new Mac Pro in the plant, which will ship next month.
- Trump and Cook have met previously several times and have developed a cordial relationship.
- Cook is lobbying the president to exempt Apple products from tariffs on Chinese imports.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Apple CEO Tim Cook and US President Donald Trump met once again on Wednesday – this time on Apple’s turf for a tour of the company’s factory in Austin, Texas.
After the visit, Trump tweeted that he had opened a factory in Austin, but the plant has been manufacturing Apple products since 2012, including an earlier version of the Mac Pro.
Today I opened a major Apple Manufacturing plant in Texas that will bring high paying jobs back to America. Today Nancy Pelosi closed Congress because she doesn’t care about American Workers!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 20, 2019
That same day, Apple also announced plans to build a new billion-dollar campus in Austin. It’s set to open in 2022 and will eventually hold 15,000 workers. The planned building will sit a short distance from the factory Trump toured on Wednesday.
Scroll on to see photos from the president's visit:
President Trump took Air Force One to Austin to tour Apple's manufacturing plant.
His daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump also attended the tour.
Trump met with Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton as he arrived at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
Manufacturing in the factory continued as usual before Trump's tour, with photographers there to document the activity before the president's arrival.
Apple already employs 7,000 people in Austin.
Trump talked to some of the workers Apple already employs in Austin. The company says it will eventually employ as many as 15,000 people in the city after the new campus is completed.
Here's an image Apple provided showing what the future campus in Austin, TX will look like when it's completed.
Apple CEO Tim Cook greeted the president at the beginning of the tour.
Cook and Trump have met several times over the past year, as Apple seeks an exemption on Chinese import tariffs.
Apple manufactures the Mac Pro at the Austin plant, which it will start shipping next month. The $6,000 computer is designed for professionals that need a ton off computing power, like video editors.
The president has pushed for companies like Apple to keep manufacturing jobs in the US.
"I said someday we're [going to] see Apple building plants in our country, not in China," Trump said. "And that's what's happening, it's all happening."
"The nice part is he doesn't have to worry about tariffs," Trump said about the Mac Pro. "Because when you build in the United States, you don't have to worry about tariffs."
President Trump said that Tim Cook was a "very special person" for creating jobs in the US. The New York Times reported that he asked Cook, "What would you say about our economy compared to everybody else?".
"I think we have the strongest economy in the world," Cook replied, according to the Times.
The president reportedly repeated the statement, "Strongest in the world."
Besides the Mac Pro, most of Apple's manufacturing takes place in China.
Republican Congressman John Carter, whose district includes Austin, also attended the tour.
President Trump had a chance to walk around the factory floor.
We don't know exactly what Trump and Cook talked about during the tour, but they were engaged in conversation for much of the visit. Afterward, Trump talked to the press, where he revealed he was "looking" at whether Apple should be exempt from tariffs on imported Chinese goods.
After the visit, Trump once again boarded Air Force One.
