Trump told The New York Times that he has spoken to Apple CEO Tim Cook and told him that that it would be a “real achievement” when he gets Apple to build a big plant in the United States, or many big plants in the United States,  instead of going to China, and going to Vietnam.

In return he offered to create the incentives for Apple and he will move. “We’re going for a very large tax cut for corporations, which you’ll be happy about,” he told Cook.

Earlier Foxconn announced that it had been working on the request from Apple to investigate a move stateside, but its Chairman, Terry Gou, had warned of a resulting rise in production costs. The cost of an iPhone could more than double if Apple follows through with moving production to the US because it would add $30 to $40 to the cost of an iPhone.

But Apple might find that its arm has been twisted. Trump made his plans regarding large corporations clear when he said during a speech at Liberty University in Virginia: "We're going to get Apple to build their damn computers and things in this country instead of in other countries."

If Trump gives big corporations sweetners to stay in the US then it is possible that Apple will stay. The number of jobs that it will bring to the table is another matter. If Foxconn does set up shop for Apple in the US it will probably be so highly robotised it could be run by a half-blind spaniel, called Nigel.