The Trump family has not said which company would manufacture its phone in the United States.
“Eventually, all the phones can be built in the United States of America,” Eric Trump said on “The Benny Show” podcast on Monday – suggesting the phones released in August may not entirely be manufactured within the country.
Technology experts have questioned what the Trump Organization’s “built in the United States” claim about its handsets means and argued it is probably not currently possible to manufacture smartphones from scratch in the US.
“They don’t even have a working prototype. It’s extremely unlikely,” said Prof Tinglong Dai, who teaches operations management at Johns Hopkins’ Carey Business School.
“You would have to have a miracle. You would need to have economies of scale. You would need to have sustainable demand for this kind of product,” Prof Dai added.
The decision comes as Trump tries to pressure Apple chief executive Tim Cook to manufacture iPhones sold to American buyers in the US.
Last month, the president threatened to place a 25% import tax “at least” on iPhones not manufactured in America.
Analyst Leo Gebbie of CCS Insight noted that the US currently “simply does not have the high-tech supply chain” required for smartphone assembly, especially not in time to be released in August, as the Trump Organization has said.
“However, it’s possible that the device could be assembled in the US with parts imported from abroad. This might be the most likely outcome that lets the T1 claim American sovereignty,” Mr Gebbie said.
The announcement was light on details, including the name of the business partner that will run the service and is licensing the name.
The Trump Organization did not immediately respond to questions from the BBC about its business partner, criticisms around potential ethics issues and a request for details of its “built in the United States” claim.
In announcing its plans, it said “hard-working Americans deserve a wireless service that’s affordable, reflects their values, and delivers reliable quality they can count on”.
It pitched a policy of “discounted” international calls to families with members serving outside the US in the military.
The announcement said the mobile service would have customer support staff based in the US to answer questions, as well as the gold-coloured phone, which is currently available for pre-order.
