Trump claims credit for opening Apple plant in Texas that's been assembling Mac Pros since 2013

(Image credit: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

published 21 November 2019

President Trump made his seventh trip to Texas this year on Wednesday afternoon to tour a Flextronics plant in Austin where Apple assembles Mac Pro computers. After a 90-minute tour of the facility led by Apple CEO Tim Cook, Trump praised Apple and said "we're seeing the beginning of a very powerful and important plant." He later tweeted: "Today I opened a major Apple Manufacturing plant in Texas that will bring high paying jobs back to America."

That isn't what happened.

In his remarks, Cook noted that before Trump's arrival he had broken ground on Apple's new $1 billion corporate campus less than a mile from it's current Austin campus, and that new facility will vastly expand Apple's non-manufacturing footprint in the area. But the Flextronics plant that has been making Mac Pros since 2013 employs about 500 people and hasn't announced any plans to expand. Trump apparently has a history of claiming credit for the creation of existing manufacturing facilities.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

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