The Apple iPhone: 2007, meet 2017 Watch Now

US President Donald Trump has said that Apple will build three major manufacturing facilities in the US.

Trump told the Wall Street Journal in an interview that Apple CEO Tim Cook promised him "three big plants, beautiful plants" in the US as part of the their talks over business-tax reform and investment.

Special Feature Cloud - How to Do SaaS Right Software as a Service offers irresistible benefits for organizations of all sizes — from cost savings to scalability to mobile accessibility. Read More

"I said you know, Tim, unless you start building your plants in this country, I won't consider my administration an economic success. He called me, and he said they are going forward," said Trump.

Trump did not offer the WSJ details about when and where Apple would build the plants, or about what would be made at the facilities.

It's a subject which the President has mentioned before.

"Tim, you know one of the things that will be a real achievement for me is when I get Apple to build a big plant in the United States, or many big plants in the United States," said Trump in an interview in November, while in January he said: "We're going to get Apple to build their damn computers and things in this country instead of in other countries."

Apple declined to respond to the report.

Apple does do some manufacturing in the US already, including assembling the Mac Pro in Austin. It also sources components from US firms, including Texas Instruments and screens from Corning, which received $200m from Apple's recently-announced $1bn Advanced Manufacturing Fund.

In May, Apple launched a jobs creation website, which highlights the 31 US states that provide components or materials for its products and that it spent $3bn with US suppliers last year. Apple claims its responsible for creating two million US jobs.

However, the company relies primarily on contractors, such as Foxconn, to assemble the iPhone and iPad and only owns one small manufacturing facility in Cork, Ireland.

Read more on Apple