President Donald Trump wants Apple Inc. to scale back iPhone manufacturing expansion in India while the company attempts to diversify its supply chain outside of China and escape the sting of tariffs.
On Thursday, Trump shared a phone conversation he had with Apple CEO Tim Cook following an agreement the U.S. reached with China to reduce tariffs for 90 days. The agreement would lower tariff rates to 30% and 10% for the U.S. and China, respectively, while the countries try to hammer out a longer-term deal.
“I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday. I said to him, ‘Tim you’re my friend, I treated you very good. You’re coming in with $500 billion (on infrastructure projects), but now you’re building all over India. I don’t want you building in India,'” Trump said during a press event in Qatar.
“I said, ‘Tim, look, we’ve treated you really good. We’ve put up with all the plants that you built in China for years. Now, you gotta build us. We’re not interested in you building in India. India can take care of themselves. They’re doing very well. We want you to build here,”” he added. “And they’re going to be upping their production in the United States.”
Trump implored Apple to limit expansion in India and increase manufacturing in the United States. Apple, which makes most of its iPhones in China, this month said the majority of iPhone production would shift to India. A major chunk of U.S.-bound production of goods to India is planned by the end of 2026 to sidestep Trump’s trade war with China. Foxconn, one of Apple’s top assemblers, recently gained approval in India to build a $435 million fabrication plant in that country.
iPhones made in India accounted for about one-fourth of Apple’s first-quarter shipments, up from 16% from a year ago, according to Counterpoint Research.
The president took particular exception to Apple’s moves to diversity its supply chain in India and Vietnam after Cook vowed in February to invest $500 billion to build new manufacturing facilities and a manufacturing academy across multiple states in the U.S. over the next four years. Trump also criticized India’s high tariff barriers, which he claims make it difficult to sell American goods in the country. He noted that Indian officials offered to reduce tariffs as talks progress on an import tax deal.
Apple had no comment on the president’s comments.
