| Hi, everyone. It's Shira. One of Apple Inc.'s underappreciated skills is its political savvy. The company has managed to (mostly) keep happy the two leaders on both sides of the U.S.-China trade war with personal diplomacy and alternating doses of hyperbole and calculated silence. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump toured what he had described as a new Apple manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas. Apple also used the moment to repeat a 2018 self-congratulation for what the company says are millions of new jobs it has helped create in the U.S., and for contributing hundreds of billions of dollars to the U.S. economy. All these pronouncements are pure political pragmatism, and they require explanation and asterisks. For one, the facility that Trump and other U.S. officials toured on Wednesday is not new. The assembly facility, run by Apple contractor Flex Ltd., has been assembling Mac computers for about six years. In that time, there have been some hiccups from a supply chain that isn't finely tuned to Apple's specifications for tiny screws or other computer parts. This facility will now be putting together a revamped Mac Pro desktop computer that has a starting price of about $12,000, including an optional high-end screen and monitor stand. It's fair to think that this will be a low-volume product, while nearly all of Apple's other hardware products are assembled in China. What is new in Austin is Apple's follow-through on an announcement last year to build a new work site in the city and expand the company's employee base there. Apple deserves credit for doing so without the hype of Amazon.com Inc.'s reality-style "HQ2" competition that pitted North American cities against each other and that left Amazon's reputation bruised. Apple on Wednesday also said it was on its way to fulfilling a commitment made last year to contribute "$350 billion to the U.S. economy" by 2023. As was true when Apple made this pronouncement, it appears that most of this represents Apple's typical spending on parts, computer equipment, tax payments and other operating expenses – and not additional investments above and beyond what was already planned. Those eye-popping, asterisk-inducing investment numbers definitely are part of Apple's deft navigation of political waters in the U.S. So is Apple's silence about Trump's repeated statements that the company plans to build new manufacturing facilities in the U.S. It won't. Trump has also spoken before about having a good relationship with Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive officer, and that gives Apple's views a fair airing in the White House. Apple has displayed equal skill at navigating the politics in China, which is both an essential manufacturing hub for Apple and a major consumer market for its products. What Apple calls "Greater China" – China, Hong Kong and Taiwan – is responsible for almost 20% of the company's revenue and operating income. (U.S. sales were 39% of Apple's total revenue in fiscal 2019.) Cook's message with Chinese officials is the same as it is in the U.S. He has encouraged open economic development and an end to U.S-China trade skirmishes. The company also has been mostly mum when controversy has flared in the U.S. about its policies in China to, among other things, store Chinese users' data in the country and to remove an iPhone app used by democracy protesters in Hong Kong. Apple also has used its checkbook in China in ways that generate goodwill and good publicity, including making investments in clean energy and in China's on-demand car startup Didi. The result is Apple has mostly stayed in good graces in both the U.S. and China, and has warded off tariffs on the iPhone, at least for now. It's tricky to play nice with two countries that increasingly don't trust each other. Apple's deft realpolitik has been to accentuate the positive and keep silent on the negative. – Shira Ovide | 
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