Trump Promise of a US-Made Phone Has a Problem

When the Trump family business announced a new smartphone venture on Monday, the accompanying press release promised the $499 Android phone would be "proudly designed and built in the United States." But the assessment of tech experts is pretty much unanimous in concluding that the promise cannot be kept, at least for the near future.

• "There is no way the phone was designed from scratch and there is no way it is going to be assembled in the US or completely manufactured in the US," Francisco Jeronimo, vice president at International Data Corporation, tells CNBC. "That is completely impossible."

• The US is still years—and billions of dollars—away from having such manufacturing capability, reports the Wall Street Journal. Based on the phone's available specs, it would almost certainly have to be made in China, according to both the Journal and CNBC. (That raises the prospect that the president's threatened tariffs against foreign-made phones might have to be applied to his own company.)
• Eric Trump appeared to hedge the press release's language on Monday in an interview with podcaster Benny Johnson, per the BBC. "Eventually, all the phones can be built in the United States of America," he said, without elaborating on the "eventually" part. "We have to bring manufacturing back here."
• Analyst Leo Gebbie of CCS Insight sees a potential compromise, telling the BBC "it's possible that the device could be assembled in the US with parts imported from abroad." That, he added, "might be the most likely outcome that lets the T1 claim American sovereignty."
• The "T1 Mobile" venture is due to launch in September, and Reuters explains a technicality: The Trump name is being used under a trademark license, as with other Trump-branded ventures. "As a result, the Trump Organization is not involved in designing the smartphone, manufacturing it, or providing the cellular service."

(More Trump Organization stories.)