Jody Serrano
Editor in chiefEditor in Chief at Xataka On. Before joining Webedia, I was a tech reporter at Gizmodo and The Messenger. While I've covered all sorts of things related to technology, I'm specialized in writing about social media, Internet culture, Twitch, and streamers.
When the Trump family announced its new T-1 phone—gold and with an American flag on the back, of course—this month, it wanted everyone to know the devices would be “Made in America.”
Nearly two weeks later, no one is quite sure exactly what that means.
“Proudly American.” Earlier this week, the “Made in America” claim suddenly vanished from Trump Mobile’s website, The Verge reported. It was replaced with other claims, including:
“Proudly American”
“designed with American values in mind”
“American hands behind every device”
“American-Proud Design”
A skeptical reception. Supply chain experts have been casting doubt over Trump Mobile’s claim that the device would be made in the U.S. since it was announced. Many point out that the U.S. doesn’t have the infrastructure to build smartphones and that it’s too expensive to build a phone in the country.
If that’s the case, where is the T-1 being made? According to experts who spoke to CNN, the phone is likely being made in China. The T-1 has similar specs to other Chinese phones already on the market.
“There [are] only realistically four or five smartphone ODM [original device manufacturers] that would actually be able to manufacture something like this,” industry analyst Max Weinbach said. “All of them are based out of China.”
What it means to be “Made in the USA.” The Federal Trade Commission is in charge of making sure that products claimed to be “Made in the USA” are actually produced here. The agency is pretty clear on its requirements.
“For a product to be called Made in USA, or claimed to be of domestic origin without qualifications or limits on the claim, the product must be ‘all or virtually all’ made in the U.S.,” the agency says on its website. “That is, the product should contain no—or negligible—foreign content.”
In case you still had doubts, the FTC goes into explicit detail on what this means. It states that the product’s components must be made or sourced in the U.S.; that all significant processing must take place in the U.S.; and that final assembly must occur in the U.S.
Trump Mobile downplays language change. People in Trump world insist there’s nothing to see here, even though the family itself isn’t being clear on what exactly “made in America” means. (President Donald Trump isn’t involved in Trump Mobile. It’s a project being led by the Trump Organization, which is run by his sons).
“T1 phones are proudly being made in America,” Trump Mobile spokesman Chris Walker said, as reported by the Associated Press. “Speculation to the contrary is simply inaccurate.”
However, in a recent interview with Benny Johnson, Eric Trump said that “eventually all the phones can be built in the United States of America.”
Bottom line. It’s still not clear whether the T-1 phone will see the light of day. While the phone was initially set to be launched in September, the Trump Mobile website now simply says it will be available “later this year.”
Whether or not the phone comes to market, keep this in mind: It’s one thing to say something is “Made in the U.S.” It’s another thing for it to actually be true.
Images | Trump Mobile
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