Opinion | Why fight Trump when you can wait him out?

For all the hype about reshoring and “America first”, the world’s quietest and smartest geopolitical strategy right now can be summed up in three words: “wait Trump out”.

US President Donald Trump’s second term is disruptive but finite. With roughly three years left and no re-election possible, the global system has entered what economists might call a temporary Nash equilibrium – a stable set of strategies for this limited period before evolving to a new state.

Few do this dance better than Apple. In August, CEO Tim Cook unveiled an “American Manufacturing Programme”, part of a US$600 billion investment, billed as proof of Apple’s deep commitment to the US economy. Much of that staggering figure was already baked into earlier research and development and data-centre budgets. Insiders note this is largely backloaded, integrated with existing spending plans and especially concentrated in noncore assembly segments. In short, it is nothing but a window-dressing of already decided and planned commitments.

What looked like industrial patriotism was political insurance – preserving options by deferring decisions, especially since style takes precedence over substance for Trump. Behind the scenes, Apple continues to expand production in Vietnam, Malaysia and India, hedging against future tariffs while maintaining China’s high-value supply chain links.