Also this year, the China Development Forum, a Chinese event where Big Tech meets with the government to take stock of the situation, was tightly secured. However, local media leaked Premier Li Qiang‘s dissatisfaction with the recent instability of the global supply chain. US tariffs, after all, particularly targeting Beijing, have pushed many manufacturers to reinvent their supply chains. Among these is the American Apple, which under pressure from Donald Trump decided to accelerate that relocation from China in favor of India that has been under consideration for some time. And at the China Development Forum, one of the few Western entrepreneurs admitted was precisely Tim Cook.
CHINESE REPRIMANDS
According to the Dragon Country’s premier, politicizing industrial issues will lead to nothing good for anyone, let alone “deliberately instrumentalizing the supply chain”: the risk, Li Qiang warned, presumably addressing Tim Cook – but effectively speaking to Trump – is indeed that of increasing costs for companies and weakening the momentum of development.
Tim Cook on China: "A powerful engine of innovation is rising"
At the China Development Forum in Beijing on Sunday, Apple CEO Tim Cook praised China's world-class developers and rapid transformation in smart manufacturing. #ChinaDevelopmentForum2026 pic.twitter.com/YG8T2m0jxb
— CGTN Frontline (@Frontlinestory) March 22, 2026
Tim Cook, as far as is known, instead used very accommodating words towards China, although it is now clear to everyone that the trade tensions between Washington and Beijing will not allow Cupertino to keep straddling both sides for much longer.
APPLE TRIES TO REASSURE TRUMP
From here, most likely the decision to curry favor with the fickle White House occupant by announcing new members for its American Manufacturing Program (AMP), launched precisely to meet Trump’s pressing demands to invest primarily on American soil.
Apple’s clear intention is to demonstrate to the US administration that it is not only committed to continuing its long-standing pledge with Washington but even wants to expand it to establish even more advanced production in the United States, including the delicate and crucial sector of manufacturing critical components.
ONGOING COLLABORATIONS
Cupertino is currently collaborating with Bosch, Cirrus Logic, TDK, and Qnity Electronics to produce essential materials and components for Apple products sold worldwide within the 50 states, thereby creating “in-house” jobs and strengthening American manufacturing capabilities, just as President Trump has repeatedly demanded across all industrial sectors. Apple plans to invest $400 million in these new programs by 2030.
INTEGRATED CIRCUITS AND SENSORS MADE IN USA
The expansion, Cupertino emphasizes, accelerates a key component of Apple’s four-year commitment of $600 billion to expand its American production. The new partnerships will focus on producing sensors, integrated circuits, and advanced materials used in Apple devices, with some components being produced in the United States for the first time.
On the other hand, however, Apple is not leaving China as it has been asked to do on multiple occasions by Trump: with the result that in the Asian country the bitten Apple has begun to be viewed with greater suspicion. How long will Cupertino be able to navigate both shores of the Pacific?
