Apple selects China as site to assemble new Mac Pro

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple Inc. will manufacture a new version of its Mac Pro computer in China, shifting production of the only major product the company has assembled in the United States outside the country, a person familiar with the plans said Friday.

The move, reported Friday by the Wall Street Journal, will most likely draw the ire of President Donald Trump, who has pressed Apple to shift more of its manufacturing to the United States amid a continuing trade war with China. The person familiar with Apple’s plans was not authorized to discuss them publicly.

Trump said during the 2016 campaign, “We’re gonna get Apple to start building their damn computers and things in this country, instead of in other countries.”

The Mac Pro, a high-end desktop computer that sells for $6,000, accounts for a small portion of Apple’s overall sales.

Apple’s chief executive, Timothy Cook, went on prime-time television in 2012 to announce the company would make a Mac computer in the United States. The Mac Pro, built in a facility in Austin would come with the inscription: “Assembled in USA,” Cook said.

Apple said in a statement it had worked with manufacturing facilities in 30 states, and it had spent $60 billion with over 9,000 suppliers across the United States last year.

“Like all of our products, the new Mac Pro is designed and engineered in California and includes components from several countries, including the United States,” the statement said. “Final assembly is only one part of the manufacturing process.”