Obama’s State of the Union: “Apple Will Start Making Macs in America Again”

Yesterday it was reported Apple CEO would attend President Obama’s State of the Union address and be seated within the First Lady’s Box, according to White House officials. Cook rescheduled his Goldman Sachs keynote speech to earlier this morning so he could attend the address in Washington.

Tonight, President Obama cited Apple as bringing jobs back to America within his State of the Union address. Starting at the 4:49 mark in the following White House video, Obama says the first priority is to bring back jobs to America–and ends with a shout out to Apple bringing Macs back to America:

Our first priority is making America a magnet for new jobs and manufacturing.

After shedding jobs for more than 10 years, our manufacturers have added about 500,000 jobs over the past three. Caterpillar is bringing jobs back from Japan. Ford is bringing jobs back from Mexico. After locating plants in other countries like China, Intel is opening its most advanced plant right here at home. And this year, Apple will start making Macs in America again.

You can watch the video below–just rewind to the 4:49 mark:

The @whitehouse twitter account also sent out the following tweet:

Obama in #SOTU: "this year, Apple will start making Macs in America again." #JobsNow

— White House Archived (@ObamaWhiteHouse) February 13, 2013

Cook first confirmed Mac production would move back to the USA during his interview with Brian Williams from NBC, the Apple CEO’s first television interview.

Below you can see Apple CEO Tim Cook within the First Lady’s Box, directly behind from First Lady Michelle Obama:

Obama has addressed Apple before in his previous State of the Union speech last year, as he paid tribute to Steve Jobs as the type of entrepreneur America should support:

“An economy built to last is one where we encourage the talent and ingenuity of every person in this country. That means women should earn equal pay for equal work. It means we should support everyone who’s willing to work and every risk-taker and entrepreneur who aspires to become the next Steve Jobs.”