Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free
Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the world
Trump Mobile has backed away from the claim that its golden smartphone will be “Made in the USA”, just a week after it was announced.
The phone network launched by the Trump Organization has changed its website to say that the $499 smartphone will be “brought to life right here in the USA” and “designed with American values in mind”, after last week pledging the product would be manufactured in the US.
Statements that the T1 phone would start shipping in August have also been removed. The website now says the phone will be released “later this year”.
Trump Mobile did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company previously stated that manufacturing would take place in Alabama, California and Florida.
No mainstream smartphones are manufactured in the US. A formal Made in America label requires “all or virtually all” components of a product to be US-made.
Experts had questioned whether a competitive consumer device could be built using US-made components given the outsized role of China in the global smartphone supply chain.
At least 80 per cent of all smartphone components are made in China, according to estimates from Counterpoint Research. The two biggest makers of smartphones sold in the US, Apple and Samsung, both rely heavily on Asia as a manufacturing base.
The push by the Trump Organization — led by President Donald Trump’s sons Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump — to create a US-made smartphone follows the president’s efforts to bring this supply chain to America.
Trump has rounded on Apple for relying on China and India to manufacture the iPhone, threatening the tech giant with 25 per cent tariffs.
The terms and conditions for pre-ordering the T1 phone have also been changed, clarifying that customers will need to simultaneously sign up to the mobile plan.
The mobile plan, which costs $47.45 per month in a reference to Trump’s presidential terms, is offered by a little-known Florida company called Liberty Mobile Wireless, founded in 2018 and based in Trump Tower in Miami.
The specifications of the promised smartphone on the website have been revised, with the screen size reduced from 6.78 inches to 6.25 inches, and the removal of an earlier promise of 12GB of RAM.
Read the full article here
