{"id":18214,"date":"2025-06-27T05:15:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T05:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/18214\/"},"modified":"2025-06-27T05:15:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T05:15:12","slug":"trumps-drop-made-in-the-usa-label-for-499-smartphone-proudly-american","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/18214\/","title":{"rendered":"Trumps drop \u2018Made in the USA\u2019 label for $499 smartphone: ‘Proudly American’"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the Trump family\u00a0unveiled a new phone<\/a>\u00a0before a giant American flag at its headquarters earlier this month, the pitch was simple and succinct, packed with pure patriotism: \u201cMade in the U.S.A.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trumps are apparently having second thoughts.<\/p>\n

How about \u201cproudly American\u201d<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Those are the two words that have replaced the \u201cMade in the USA\u201d pitch<\/a> that just a few days ago appeared on the website where customers can pre-order the so-called T-1 gold-toned phones with an American flag etched on the back. <\/p>\n

Trump Mobile unveiled the $499 T-1 gold-toned phones with an American flag etched on the back last week. Trump Mobile<\/p>\n

Elsewhere on the site, other vague terms are now being used, describing the $499 phone as boasting an \u201cAmerican-Proud Design\u201d and \u201cbrought to life right here in the U.S.A.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Federal Trade Commission requires that items labeled \u201cMade in USA\u201d be \u201call or virtually all\u201d produced in the US and several firms have been sued over misusing the term.<\/p>\n

The Trump Organization has not explained the change and has not responded to a request for comment. Neither did an outside public relations firm handling the Trumps\u2019 mobile phone business, including a request to confirm a statement made to another media outlet.<\/p>\n

\u201cT1 phones are proudly being made in America,\u201d said Trump Mobile spokesman Chris Walker, according to USA Today. \u201cSpeculation to the contrary is simply inaccurate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Analysts say it\u2019s nearly impossible to build a smartphone here given the higher cost and lack of infrastructure to do so. Getty Images<\/p>\n

The language change on the website was first reported by the news site The Verge.<\/p>\n

An expert on cell phone technology, IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo, said he\u2019s not surprised the Trump family has dropped the \u201cMade in the USA\u201d label because it\u2019s nearly impossible to build one here given the higher cost and lack of infrastructure to do so.<\/p>\n

But, of course, you can claim to do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it is possible or not to build this phone in the US depends on what you consider \u2018build,\u2019\u201d Jeronimo said. \u201cIf it\u2019s a question of assembling components and targeting small volumes, I suppose it\u2019s somehow possible. You can always get the components from China and assemble them by hand somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re going to have phones that are made right here in the United States of America,\u201d said Trump\u2019s son Eric to Fox News recently, adding, \u201cIt\u2019s about time we bring products back to our great country.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trump family has flown the American flag before with Trump-branded products of suspicious origin, including its \u201cGod Bless the USA\u201d Bibles, which an\u00a0Associated Press investigation<\/a>\u00a0last year showed were printed in China.<\/p>\n

The Trump phone is part of a bigger family mobile business plan designed to tap into MAGA enthusiasm for the president. Above, Eric Trump, left and Don Trump Jr., far right, unveil the phone. Robert Mecea<\/p>\n

The Trump phone is part of a bigger family mobile business plan designed to tap into MAGA enthusiasm for the president. The two sons running the business, Eric and Don Jr., announced earlier this month that they would offer mobile phone plans for $47.45 a month, a reference to their father\u2019s status as the 45th and 47th president. The call center, they said, will be in the US, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not calling up call centers in Bangladesh,\u201d Eric Trump said on Fox News. \u201cWe\u2019re doing it out of St. Louis, Missouri.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new service has been blasted by government ethics experts for a conflict of interest, given that President Donald Trump oversees the Federal Communications Commission that regulates the business and is investigating phone service companies that are now Trump Mobile rivals.<\/p>\n

Trump has also threatened to punish cell phone maker Apple, now a direct competitor, threatening to slap 25% tariffs on devices because of its plans to\u00a0make most of its US iPhones in India<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the Trump family\u00a0unveiled a new phone\u00a0before a giant American flag at its headquarters earlier this month, the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[64,17441,69,10740,2175,242,17442,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-18214","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-cell-phones","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-smartphones","12":"tag-tariffs","13":"tag-tech","14":"tag-trump-organization","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114753629331024941","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}