U.S. President Donald Trump had a bone to pick with Apple CEO Tim Cook. He simply doesn’t want Apple to manufacture in India. The President told the iPhone maker, “You are coming up with $500 billion, but now I hear you are building all over India. I don’t want you building in India”.
Trump made this statement while in Doha, Qatar during his 3-day trip to the Middle-east region. POTUS didn’t mince his words saying India has one of the highest tariffs, but post the reciprocal tariffs, they (India) had agreed to slash all levies.
“They (India) has offered us a deal where basically they have agreed to charge us literally no tariffs. I said TIM, we are treating you really good, we put up with all the plants you built in #China for years. We are not interested in you building in India. India can take care of themselves,” he added.
The words of discouragement from the U.S. President comes at a time when Apple is planning to expand its India production and shift its manufacturing away from China, which contributes to 90% of the current production. iPhones and MacBooks are much sought-after globally, and Trump wants Apple to expand statewide rather than globally.
Interestingly, Apple airlifted iPhones worth a record $2 billion from India in March even as Trump tariffs loomed. In April, the U.S. administration imposed a 26% duty on imports from India as part of its reciprocal tariff strategy.