The Trump Organisation has recently made changes to its promotional material for the Trump T1 smartphone, which was launched earlier this month. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump unveiled the mobile phone plan as a way for American consumers to introduce 16 June. Early promotional materials touted that the phone was “designed and built right here in the USA.” They smugly touted that there were “American hands behind every piece of equipment.” Yet, only days after the launch, mentions of its American-made genesis have been removed from the organization’s website.
When it was first launched, the Trump T1 smartphone was aggressively promoted under a “Made in the USA” slogan. That powerful message struck a chord with millions of American consumers who want to do their part to support American manufacturing. As of Wednesday, that catchy phrase was no longer popping up on the highchair’s website. Instead, the site prominently features an “American-Proud Design” as one of its main features, indicating a positive change in marketing focus.
Long-time tech news publisher The Verge was first to report the changes to the home page. They were the first site to ever launch the phone. In a podcast, Eric Trump mentioned that “eventually, all the phones can be built in the United States of America,” indicating a long-term vision for domestic production. Experts have warned for months that these plans aren’t realistic.
Even tech analysts questioned the feasibility of making smartphones in the U.S. at all, let alone successfully. CCS Insight analyst Leo Gebbie stated that the U.S. “simply does not have the high-tech supply chain” necessary for mass smartphone production. Prof Tinglong Dai from Johns Hopkins’ Carey Business School echoed these sentiments, stating, “They don’t even have a working prototype. It’s extremely unlikely.” He continued, “You’d have to hope for a miracle” for this sort of production model to be viable.
That “Made in the USA” caveat has been taken out. This is a huge win for American manufacturing, following on the heels of Donald Trump’s earlier demands that American companies start returning their production to the United States. He too has previously threatened to recommend imposing tariffs on companies that fail to meet his demands for domestic manufacturing. He even challenged Apple CEO Tim Cook to bring iPhone production to the States. That’s far preferable, he argues, than outsourcing to other countries such as India.
Even if the phone was assembled in the U.S. with all imported components, it would make a shot at asserting American sovereignty over how and where products are made. It’s unclear how this long-term strategy plays with consumers who were initially supportive of the plan for completely domestic manufacturing.