AppleInsider Staff
President Donald Trump gave a tip of the cap to Apple during the State of the Union Address on Tuesday, pointing to the California tech giant's plans to infuse some $350 billion into the U.S. economy over the next five years.
Trump's missive came during a section of the speech dedicated to tax reform, long a major political platform plinth for Republicans.
The GOP recently pushed through a new tax law that effectively lowered rates for larger corporations, a move that resulted in bonuses for some employees. Apple, too, announced a bonus for its worldwide workforce that comes in the form of a $2,500 grant in restricted stock units, which will be meted out to all "contributors and management" up to and including Senior Managers.
Hedged between rallying cries for the American autoworker and promises to lower medication prices, Trump's shoutout to Apple seemingly validated the efficacy of Republican tax reform.
"Apple has just announced it plans to invest $350 billion in America, and hire another 20,000 workers," Trump said.
Apple announced the U.S. investment plan earlier this month, saying it will pump $350 billion into the economy over five years. According to Apple, 20,000 new jobs will be created through strategic investments including a new campus to be built in an as-yet-undisclosed city.
With $75 billion of the investment to be paid for with overseas cash, Apple is expecting to pay out $38 billion in repatriation taxes. That payment will be the largest of its kind, Apple said.
Shortly after Apple announced its investment plans, CEO Tim Cook in an interview with ABC News said the initiative is at least in part thanks to recent changes in U.S. tax policies.
"Let me be clear, there are large parts of this that are a result of the tax reform, and there's large parts of this that we would have done in any situation," Cook said.
The State of the Union isn't the first time Trump ticked Apple's investment as a win for his administration. At a rally earlier this month, Trump said he called Cook to thank the Apple chief personally for what he believes is the largest single investment by any company in America's history.
"When I heard the news yesterday — and Tim Cook is a great guy, the head of Apple — when I heard the news, I heard $350 billion and I said, 'You mean $350 million, that is going to be a beautiful plant,' and they said, 'No.' They said, 'It is $350 billion,"' Trump said at the time.
Cook previously attended a State of the Union in 2013 as a guest of President Barack Obama. At the time, Apple had promised to restart Mac manufacturing in America after a years-long hiatus.
Andrew Orr
Marko Zivkovic
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53 Comments
Of course he does. He needs to take credit for anything to stoke his ego, even though all of this money was already earmarked to be spent on regular employees, etc in the first place.
Where are the ACTUAL jobs? From what I've read Apple will now spend HALF of what it did last year on taxes, which is already a joke.
I love Apple products but give me a break.
Until those of us in other counties find a way to get Apple to invest here instead so our local profits turn in to operational costs (plus local jobs) and can't be double taxed in USA.