Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump may be very different people with very different views of how they would run the as president, but there's at least one thing they agree on: Apple should do its part to manufacture more of its products in the U.S.
Sanders recently gave an interview to the New York Daily News, which straightforwardly asked the Vermont Junior Senator if Apple is 'destroying the fabric of America.'
“No, Apple is not destroying the fabric of America,” Sanders responded. “But I do wish they’d be manufacturing some of their devices, here, in the United States rather than in China. And I do wish that they would not be trying to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.”
This coincides with Trump's sentiment he gave at the start of the year while speaking at Liberty University on Jan. 18, when he said, "We’re gonna get Apple to start building their damn computers and things in this country, instead of in other countries.”
Sanders and Trump certainly aren't the first politicians to criticize the multinational technology giant. During a dinner at Silicone Valley in February 2011, President Barack Obama flat-out asked the late and then-CEO of Apple Steve Jobs what it would take for the company to make iPhones in the U.S.? According to multiple sources, Jobs' response was simply, "Those jobs aren't coming back."
The prodding of Obama, Sanders and Trump stems from a widespread notion that Apple outsources its manufacturing because labor is cheaper elsewhere. Apple executives have continued to respond saying the U.S. doesn't have the factory scale and flexibility needed to produce most their products within the country.