While the new Mac Pro is being celebrated by U.S. President Donald Trump and others as an American-made product, not all Mac Pros are assembled in Apple’s Texas facility. European shipments are being assembled in China.
The use of a Texas facility previously used to assemble earlier model Mac Pros to assemble the new model has been a feather in the cap of Apple, particularly after it was initially believed that all assembly of the new pro-level Mac would move to China. However, that appears to be true only for Mac Pro units destined for customers in the United States.
MacGeneration reveals an early order for the Mac Pro in France was delivered on Monday, but the computer wasn’t produced in Apple’s U.S. factory. Upon inspecting the case it was revealed that the text on the case reads “Designed by Apple in California, Assembled in China.”
It appears Apple is using the Texas facility for orders within North America, while Chinese assembly partners are handling orders for the rest of the world. Apple in June reportedly signed with contractor Quanta Computer for assembly, using a factory near Shanghai.
Back in November, Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an interview that the company was “proud” to be assembling the Mac Pro in the U.S.
“We are really proud to make the Mac Pro here,” said Cook. “This computer is our most powerful computer we’ve ever made, by far.”
Apple’s continued use of the U.S. factory to build the new Mac Pro is seen as a way for Apple to avoid some of the tariffs applied against imports of products and components from China as part of the ongoing U.S./China trade war. However, the U.S. recently signed a new trade deal with China that pulled back on existing tariffs and canceled others that were set to go into effect last Sunday.