US President Donald Trump may visit Apple's Texas factory

US President Donald Trump has been wooing tech companies to shift production to the country from China. At the forefront of this is Apple, one of the most valuable companies in the world. While the US-China trade war wages on, Trump, it seems is now pulling out all the stops to get companies like Apple to agree with his policy.

He will be meeting Apple CEO Tim Cook and touring Apple's Texas factory with him, as reported by CNBC on Tuesday.

There has been no official announcement of the trip, either from the US government or Apple, but the fact that a report about the tour has emerged amidst the ongoing trade war might be an indication of something big happening.

Cook, along with people such as Elon Musk was a part of Trump's business advisory panels, so they are not entirely antithetic to the president, unlike Amazon Boss Jeff Bezos. President Trump has in the past stated that he is in direct contact with Cook, which the Apple CEO didn't rebut.

"He's the one that calls me. That's why he's a great executive because he calls me, and others don't. Others go out and hire very expensive consultants, and Tim Cook calls Donald Trump directly," Trump had stated in August.

Apple also has a horse in the race, as the new tariffs on Chinese imports are also impacting the cost of its smartphones and other products. The company is already making MacBook Pro desktops in the Texas plant. It has also availed a relief on many parts. Apple's safety is in playing nice with Trump. The company is also asking further exemptions on products such as Apple Watches and iPhone components.

This tug-of-war is going on for long. Trump has been successful in parts of changing a paradigm made over the past 20 years of China being irreplaceable. His measures have started breaking this perception and also put pressure on companies to work on alternatives to their dependence on China.