U.S. President Donald Trump said on May 15 in Doha, Qatar, that he told Apple CEO Tim Cook not to build factories in India unless they are meant only for the Indian market. Trump stated, “We're not interested in you building in India, they can take care of themselves.” This was reported by Bloomberg.
Trump also mentioned that as a result of this talk, Apple would increase its manufacturing in the United States. He added that India had offered the U.S. a deal to remove tariffs on American products. "India has offered us a deal where they are willing to charge us no tariff," Trump said at a business event in Qatar.
Apple has been working on moving some of its iPhone production from China to India. A report from Reuters in April said that Apple plans to make most of the iPhones sold in the U.S. at factories in India by the end of 2026. Currently, about 80 per cent of iPhones sold in the U.S. are made in China. Apple sells over 60 million iPhones a year in the U.S.
Making iPhones in India is still more expensive, costing 5–10 per cent more than in China. But Apple has already increased its India shipments to avoid high tariffs on Chinese products. In March, Apple sent 600 tons of iPhones worth USD 2 billion from India to the U.S. Foxconn, one of Apple’s biggest suppliers, shipped USD 1.3 billion worth alone.
Recently, the U.S. placed a 26 per cent duty on imports from India, far lower than the 100 per cent duty China faced. But now, most duties have been paused for three months, except for China.
