Patrick McGee

So...

I mean, there's probably other reasons, but I hope that's a decent overview as to just why China is so dominant and why Apple has no other choice.

Well, yes.

I mean, obviously, China's hold over Apple is just one of many factors.

So maybe it's difficult to pinpoint that expressly.

But I just think when Donald Trump went after China in Trump 2.0, right, in just the recent months, Beijing didn't have to do a lot, right?

Sort of lifted its sleeves just to show the muscle.

I mean, the policy of, you know, licensing rare earth minerals for any sort of product wasn't even something that took effect.

But the mere threat of that essentially was considered a break the glass moment.

And Washington complained about it, but essentially Trump had to back down.

I mean, I think he's deploying a strategy that might have worked in 2016 and 17, not realizing just how more prepared for it China is this time around, right?

I mean, you think of policies like the Belt and Road Initiative.

I mean, that is many things, but one thing it is, it's an initiative to make sure that there are thriving markets outside of Europe, outside of America, where China can send its exports to.

Made in China 2015, I think, has been a wildly successful plan on the part of China to become dominant across 10 different industries.

And the book makes the case that Apple, however inadvertently, is the biggest supporter of Made in China 2015, which is a fairly stunning claim, but I think one that's pretty well backed up in the 400-page narrative.

Yeah, I mean, this is sort of like a second order, third order impact of what it means to have Apple operations in your country, which is that like the biggest contribution I think the book makes to Apple history is,

is that Apple doesn't outsource in the traditional way, right?

If you and I build a product together, design a product together, the idea of finding an outsourcer is, you know, someone that's competent in the wherewithal of how to actually build something.

The assumption is that there is a producer available to do that.

In China's narrative, or Apple in China's narrative, they don't find the competence in China, they build the competence in China.