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synopsis
President Trump told Apple CEO Tim Cook that the US isn't interested in Apple building factories in India unless it's specifically to serve the Indian market.
US President Donald Trump on May 15 said in Doha, Qatar that he spoke to Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook and told him there’s no need to build factories in India unless it’s to serve that market specifically. "Told Apple CEO Tim Cook we're not interested in you building in India, they can take care of themselves," Trump stated in Doha regarding his discussion with Cook, according to Bloomberg.
Following their conversation, Trump declared that Apple will be “increasing their production in the United States.” India has promised to remove all tariffs on the US, he added.
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“I had a little problem with Tim Cook. I said to him, my friend, I am treating you very good. 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. You can build in India, if you want to take care of India because India is one of the highest tariff nations in the world, so it is very hard to sell in India. They (India) have 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." reported CNBC about their conversation.
Trump stated, "India has offered us a deal where basically they are willing to literally charge us no tariff," during a gathering with Qatari business executives.
According to a source who spoke to Reuters last month, Apple is accelerating its plans to manufacture the majority of its iPhones sold in the US at plants in India by the end of 2026 in order to avoid possibly higher tariffs in China, its primary manufacturing base.
Currently, China produces around 80% of the more than 60 million iPhones that Apple sells in the US each year. According to the Reuters study, manufacturing prices for iPhones are 5-8% more in India than in China, and in certain situations, the gap might reach 10%.
In order to avoid Trump's tariffs, Apple has already increased production in India; in March, it sent almost 600 tons of iPhones valued at $2 billion to the US. Both its contractors, Foxconn and Tata, set records with the shipments from India; according to a Reuters story last month, Foxconn alone was responsible for $1.3 billion worth of devices.
In 2024, Apple produced about 40–45 million iPhones in India, which accounted for 18–20% of its total production worldwide. About 12 million of them were sold in India, 13 million to various foreign markets, and 14–15 million to the United States.
