CNBC host Andrew Ross Sorkin on Monday dismissed Apple’s pledge to invest $500 billion into the U.S., calling it “squishy” and arguing that the tech giant would have spent that money regardless.
Speaking on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Sorkin reacted to Apple’s announcement that it will funnel billions into the U.S. by hiring 20,000 new employees over the next four years and establishing a new server factory in Texas.
The company “needed to spend” this money anyway, the CNBC Squawk Box co-anchor insisted.
“It is a bit of a down payment, potentially, on trying to get some relief from tariffs from the work that they’re doing in China later on,” Sorkin said, adding: “I think you’re gonna be seeing a lot of these kinds of announcements. I should say some of them are very real and I don’t want to discount them, but it’s not all new if you will.”
The New York Times financial columnist suggested that the deal might not be as impressive as it appears, calling it “squishy.”
He pointed out that some of the money will be used for the production of films and TV shows on Apple+, adding: “So there’s going to be a lot of different, sort of squishy elements to this.”
The multinational corporation’s investment announcement comes after Apple CEO Tim Cook met with President Donald Trump last week.
“I think one of the things we’re seeing here is the president and Tim Cook, for example, meeting last week, Tim Cook telling him about these plans in hopes that when in fact there is a decision finally made on what tariffs look like for goods being imported from China, that perhaps some of that gets some kind of relief, a carve-out, or something else,” Sorkin told Morning Joe.
Trump praised the Apple and Cook for the sizable investment in a TruthSocial post on Monday, writing: “APPLE HAS JUST ANNOUNCED A RECORD 500 BILLION DOLLAR INVESTMENT IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THE REASON, FAITH IN WHAT WE ARE DOING, WITHOUT WHICH, THEY WOULD’NT BE INVESTING TEN CENTS. THANK YOU TIM COOK AND APPLE!!!”
Meanwhile, Apple faces a 10 percent tariff on its imports from China, which will only be worsened with Trump’s threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on semiconductor chips.
“I wouldn’t say that Apple is doing this simply to placate the president or anybody else, they actually do need to be spending a large part of this money,” Sorkin claimed, adding, “Of course where they spend it was up for debate prior to this.”
