Analysts and supplychain experts are not sold in the Trump organization, which appeals to the new smartphone as “installed in the USA”, and say that it is far more likely that the 499 dollar device will actually be produced in China.
The Trump organization, the real estate, hospitality and entertainment conglomerate of the Trump family, announced on Monday that this was the case License his name For a wireless service called Trump Mobile and his gold -colored “T1” smartphone for publication in August. The device uses a wireless provider, the Liberty Wireless called Liberty called Google Android operating system.
The Trump organization notice The phones designed as “proud and installed in the USA”. However, analysts said that the conglomerate outsourced the manufacturing functions to an original device manufacturer (ODM), which is at least laid at least at short notice, since the United States does not have the manufacturing functions to build the phone.
“Although this device is initially produced by a Chinese ODM,” said Blake Przesmicki, an analyst at Contrapoint Research, becomes a note published on Monday.
Even if the USA had smartphone production functions, the company must rely on components that were imported from overseas.
The Trump organization did not react Assets‘s request for comment.
Eric Trump, Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization, admitted that Trump Mobile would initially not be completely domestic undertaking.
“Finally, all telephones can be built in the United States of America,” said Trump The Benny Show Podcast on Monday, which is produced or assembled before the start of the device before the start in August.
Manufacturing restrictions
President Donald Trump tried Jump start of domestic production By imposing extensive tariffs, experts have long warned of the United States production restrictions. AppleFor example, set up its supply chain in China in the 1990s and require extensive sourcing substitutions and increased labor costs that would increase the costs of a US mate to more than $ 3,000Dan Ives, analyst by Wedbush Securities, said before.
According to Przesmicki, these obstacles to the expansion of US production are almost universal in the industry.
“In general, no phones have been produced in the United States since the 2G era for over a decade,” said Przesmicki Assets. “We have weaker supply chains, fewer capable employees in the smartphone sector, lower margins.”
Przesmicki suggested that the manufacture of cell phones with Trump brands on American soil took place, it would take place on a small scale, about 1,000 phones or less. Leo Gebbie, main analyst at CCS Insight, told Assets There is “no serious chance” that the Trump organization has arranged the US production of the T1 telephones, especially before the start in August.
“The idea that this could be replicated in the United States in any kind of short to medium-term time scale is imaginative,” said Gebbie. “It is an absolute pipe dream.”
Instead, according to the BBIe, T1 telephones will probably have their final assembly phase in the United States, which would enable the company to avoid steep investments in domestic production by simply importing all components. This strategy, he said, could be closer to what the Trump organization had intended when she had “built” telephones in the USA
Trump not immune to his own tariffs
The import of telephone components that are most of them made in ChinaWould make another supply chain available for the Trump organization by susceptible to tariffs to Trump, which is imposed for the express purpose of the distance of trade with China.
“This absolutely increases the ghost of the Trump organization Mobile Foul Foul of the tariffs created by the Trump administration,” said BBIE.
“Ultimately, whether we are talking about screens, whether we talk about camera technologies, whether we talk about chipsets, processors and smartphones, almost everything comes from the same manufacturing centers in Asia,” he added.
The president last month threatened a 25% tariff On smartphones that were not manufactured in the United States and Apple who produced its iPhone in India – where it spends about 20% of its total performance. Trump warned he would do it impose a delivery of 25% At Apple Products if the company does not move the production to the USA
Apple announced in February Invest 500 billion US dollars In the next four years in expanding US plants.
BBIE suggested that the focus of the Trump organization on the construction of its phone in the USA -despite the domestic production -is to send a message to large companies that the US smartphone assembly is possible.
“Maybe the Trump management offers levers to go to device manufacturers such as Apple and Samsung And say: “Hey, we mark smartphones in the United States, why are you not?” Said Bgebie.
