No. You Won't Be Buying a U.S.-Made iPhone

All roads always point back to monetary policy.

---

Dear Fellow Traveler:

Apple isn't going to build your iPhone in the United States.

Not now. Not ever.

It's not because they hate America or love China.

It's because doing so would be financially and operationally insane.

The world is all about incentives… and this is just another classic example.

The $3,500 iPhone Fantasy

Trump has insisted for years that Apple should manufacture its devices in America, as if it were just a matter of willpower and patriotism.

But here's the reality…

If Apple manufactured iPhones entirely in the U.S., you wouldn't be scrolling through social media on your pocket supercomputer. You'd be mortgaging your house to afford one.

Industry analysts estimate the price would jump to $3,000 to $3,500 per unit.

That's not an upgrade. That's economic hostage-taking.

What drives that sticker shock?

Start with labor costs. The workers assembling your iPhone earn around $2 per hour in India or $5 in China.

In the U.S., the same job commands $25 or more, before factoring in benefits, OSHA compliance, union negotiations, or environmental impact assessments.

Yes… Numerous factors drive costs, and regulation is one of them.

The Missing Supply Chain

Then there's America's non-existent electronics supply chain. Apple's iPhone requires over 1,600 components sourced from more than 40 countries.

The U.S. doesn't manufacture most of them—not the advanced semiconductors, not the camera modules, not even the specialized screws.

Rebuilding that ecosystem domestically would require a multi-decade industrial policy reminiscent of World War II mobilization.

Conservative estimates suggest that it would cost Apple $30 billion to relocate 10% of its supply chain to the United States. Scaling that to 100% would detonate the company's balance sheet.

India's Strategic Play

Meanwhile, India is rolling out the red carpet through its Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme—essentially government-funded subsidies for electronics manufacturing.

The package includes land grants, tax breaks, and streamlined regulatory approval.

Combined with India's massive, young, and technically educated workforce, as well as its rapidly expanding infrastructure, it's no wonder Apple's suppliers are choosing Chennai over Cleveland.

The Dollar Curse

But this isn't just about iPhone assembly locations.

This reflects a deeper structural reality.

The Dollar Curse refers to the gravitational pull of the U.S. as a reserve currency and its impact on the U.S. economy.

When your currency is what everyone globally demands, you don't manufacture goods… you provide liquidity.

The U.S. runs trade deficits, shipping out dollars in exchange for physical products.

Other countries make, and we consume.

It's not a bug in the system; it's a feature.

To maintain a stable global economy, the United States must import more than it exports. So we offshore factories, hollow out our industrial base, and financialize everything.

Asset prices rise, wages stagnate, the middle class shrinks—but the dollar remains dominant and Wall Street profits.

Consider this… There are approximately 5,500 publicly traded stocks in the United States.

There are over 4,200 ETFs. That’s the pacification of America’s economy… that’s pure financialization. Meanwhile, there are 40 energy companies on the Russell 2000 - the ones that produce crude oil and natural gas, ship our energy, and refine our products - that are trading for LESS THAN THEIR BOOK VALUE.

Make it make sense…

The Real Question

When someone argues for bringing iPhone production to America, ask them…

Are you ready to dismantle the global dollar system?

Will you sacrifice the dollar's reserve status, impose massive tariffs, launch trillion-dollar industrial policies, and accept empty store shelves during the transition?

If not, you're not serious about manufacturing policy…

You're engaging in industrial theater.

China understands this dynamic perfectly.

They've spent decades trading cheap exports for hard currency accumulation.

India is rapidly catching on, skipping ideological debates and focusing on practical incentives. Meanwhile, America debates TikTok bans and tweets about deglobalization while financing imports with borrowed money.

We won't build iPhones in America because doing so would require us to abandon our role as the global leader in credit.

It would demand a fundamental economic transformation. This would see real industrial capacity, not boutique factories or "Made in USA" labels on packaging and final assembly.

But we don't want that transformation.

We want cheap technology, rising stock prices, and moral superiority without economic sacrifice.

India will continue winning manufacturing deals. Apple will keep assembling abroad. And iPhones will continue to arrive at your doorstep, enabled by a system we're unwilling to change.

It's time to stop pretending otherwise.

Stay positive,

Garrett Baldwin