Apple will make its new Mac Pros in Austin, Texas, continuing to build the computers at the same facilities that have been assembling the prior-generation Mac Pros since 2013.
Apple says building the computer in the US is possible thanks to receiving a tariff exemption on “certain necessary components.” Production is supposed to begin “soon.”
This is a surprise announcement from Apple. When the new-generation Mac Pro was announced, Apple didn’t mention where they would be assembled, despite having made a big deal about how the last generation would be built in the US. Shortly after the announcement, The Wall Street Journal also reported that Apple planned to switch manufacturing to China for a number of reasons. Among the reasons were speed and costs, both of which could have been reduced outside the US.
The newly granted “federal product exclusion,” Apple may be saving enough money to make US assembly worthwhile. It’s also a big political win for Apple, since President Trump has for years called on Apple to make more products in the US.
The Trump administration has been threatening tariffs as high as 25 percent on computers as part of an escalating trade war with China. In July, Trump tweeted that Apple would not receive an exemption for Mac Pro parts, saying, “Make them in the USA, no Tariffs!”
Apple says the new Mac Pro, which is supposed to launch later this year, will be “manufactured” in the Austin facilities. Previously, Apple has used the phrase “Assembled in the USA” to note that Mac Pros are not being fully constructed there due to their use of components made overseas. Apple doesn’t clarify whether that’ll be the same this time around, but it does say that the value of American-made components in the new machines has increased by 2.5x.
It’s also not clear whether these US-made machines will be distributed internationally or only in the US. Apple at one point says that some of the computer’s American-manufactured components are “for distribution to US customers.”
