Topline
President Donald Trump said he told Apple CEO Tim Cook he does not want the iPhone maker to expand manufacturing in India, asking Cook to increase production in the U.S. instead, following reports Apple was looking to shift production of U.S.-bound iPhones from China to India to avoid steep U.S. tariffs.
President Donald Trump gestures during a business roundtable, Thursday in Doha, Qatar.
Speaking at a business event in Qatar Thursday, Trump said he had talked to Cook and told him, “my friend, I treated you very good…but now I hear you’re building all over India…I don’t want you building in India.”
The president acknowledged Apple’s plan to invest $500 billion in the U.S. but said “India can take care of themselves, they are doing very well.”
After the conversation, Trump claimed Cook told him Apple will be “upping their production in the United States.”
It is unclear if this means Trump wants Apple to make its iPhones in the U.S., something many analysts have warned could raise the price of the devices significantly.
Apple’s shares dropped to $210 in premarket trading early on Thursday, down 1% compared to the previous day’s close.
Forbes has reached out to Apple for comment.
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The Indian manufacturing sector has emerged as a beneficiary of the ongoing trade tensions between India and China. The most significant example has been Apple’s efforts to shore up iPhone production in India in a bid to avoid the steep U.S. tariffs placed on China that are now paused. Late last month, several outlets reported Apple is planning to make most U.S.-bound iPhones in Indian factories by the end of 2026. In the 12 months ending March 2025, one in five Apple iPhones were made in India, accounting for $22 billion in revenue. This was a 60% increase compared to the previous year.
In his speech, Trump also claimed the Indian government has offered the U.S. “a deal where basically they are willing to literally charge us no tariff,” Bloomberg reported. Trump, who has previously admonished India by calling it the “tariff king,” did not provide any other details about the proposed deal. The president's comments come just days after he suggested he offered trade perks to India and neighboring Pakistan to secure a ceasefire between both sides after the nuclear powers were involved in a four-day skirmish—a claim India has rejected. Indian officials have not commented on Trump’s latest remarks.
Early last month, Trump unveiled a sweeping plan to impose levies on imports from nearly all countries, which he termed “reciprocal tariffs,” stemming from their trade imbalance with the U.S. Goods from India were hit with a 27% “reciprocal tariff,” which currently remains paused. Unlike several other countries, including neighbor China, India at the time held off on imposing retaliatory tariffs and offered to negotiate a deal instead.
Last month, during Vice President JD Vance’s visit to India, the White House said “significant progress” had been made towards a bilateral trade deal between the two countries. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer also issued a statement saying both sides had finalized terms to “lay down a roadmap for the negotiations on reciprocal trade.” Greer’s statement, however, noted there was a “serious lack of reciprocity in the trade relationship with India,” and the ongoing talks will “help achieve balance and reciprocity.” In an interview with Fox News earlier this month, Vance said he expects India to be among the first countries to lock in a new trade deal with the U.S.
Trump Says India Offered to Remove All Tariffs on US Goods (Bloomberg)
Vance calls for stronger India-US relations as trade talks progress (BBC)