Sources: 2013 “Assembled in USA” Mac Pro was delayed due to custom screw shortage in US, illustrating why Apple is unlikely to move manufacturing out of China
SAN FRANCISCO — Despite a trade war between the United States and China and past admonishments from President Trump …
Context & Ripple Effects
The screw story retroactively explains the arc of Apple's Mac Pro politics. After the 2013 'Assembled in USA' run stalled on something as mundane as a shortage of custom screws, Apple quietly shifted course, with sources reporting it is now assembling its new Mac Pro in China — ending the status of what had been its only major device assembled in the US.
That move landed Apple directly in the trade war: Trump publicly refused relief, saying Apple will not get tariff waivers or relief for Mac Pro parts made in China and calling on the company to build in the US instead. Cook then pledged US production in an apparent bid to sway him. The screw shortage is the supply-side counterweight to that political pressure — and it echoes Apple's earlier internal history, when senior management [[a:951146|rebuffed operations execs' push to relocate part of its manufacturing from China to Vietnam]] as early as 2015.
First-order effects
- Apple's only US-assembled major product line is effectively over: the new Mac Pro is being built in China, exposing Cook's US-manufacturing pledge as politically motivated rather than operationally near-term.
- Trump's denial of tariff waivers leaves Apple absorbing tariff costs on Mac Pro parts sourced from China, with no US assembly option to substitute given the documented supplier gaps.
Second-order effects
- The 2013 screw delay gives other manufacturers facing reshoring pressure a concrete precedent: component ecosystems — down to custom fasteners — are concentrated in Asia, so relocating final assembly without the supplier base recreates the same bottleneck.
- Pressure shifts toward partial diversification rather than full reshoring, but Apple's own track record shows internal resistance — management rejected moving some manufacturing to Vietnam years ago, keeping the supply chain concentrated.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, US political leverage over Apple's manufacturing location stays limited: tariffs can raise costs but cannot conjure the skilled labor, facilities, and dense supplier networks that keep assembly in China — consistent with reporting that iPhone production is similarly unlikely to move to the US anytime soon.
- The structural takeaway for industrial policy is that supply-chain depth, not headline assembly sites, is the real moat; countries seeking to attract electronics manufacturing must build the full component ecosystem, not just court final assembly.
The trend: Trade-war pressure is pushing Washington to demand US electronics manufacturing, but the depth of Asia's supplier networks keeps Apple's production anchored in China.