Nate Wolf
A Trump-affiliated "proudly American" gold-tone cell phone, emblazoned with an American flag on the back, may not be made in the U.S. after all.
Trump Mobile, a wireless service-provider that licenses its name from The Trump Organization, deleted language from its website intimating the flagship T1 Phone would be American-made, a change first reported by The Verge. Trump Mobile launched earlier this month.
The company originally had claimed that the $499 device would be "proudly designed and built in the United States." But any "MADE IN THE USA" references disappeared from Trump Mobile's site some time between June 21 and June 22, web archives show. The site now says the T1 is "brought to life right here in the USA" and "designed with American values in mind."
President Donald Trump's children manage The Trump Organization, which is the president's main licensing and real-estate company. Barron's has reached out to The Trump Organization and Trump Mobile for comment about what company will manufacture the T1 phone and where it will be made.
Observers were already skeptical that Trump Mobile -- or any company, for that matter -- could design and build an affordable smartphone in the U.S., The Wall Street Journal reported. One American-made smartphone is Purism's Liberty Phone, which costs $1,999, and it includes components made in Asia.
But the Trump administration has insisted that American companies onshore the manufacturing of many consumer goods, including phones. In a Truth Social post last month, Trump said he would levy a 25% tariff on iPhones sold in the U.S. unless Apple manufactured and built them domestically.
The move would present a new headache for Apple, which has already shifted some iPhone assembly to India from China to avoid tariffs.
"We see no chance that iPhone production starts to happen in the U.S. in the near-term given the upside down cost model and Herculean-like supply chain logistics needed for such an initiative," Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives wrote in a research note last month.
Write to Nate Wolf at nate.wolf@barrons.com
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June 26, 2025 09:46 ET (13:46 GMT)
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