U.S. President Donald Trump claims he has told Apple CEO Tim Cook to put an end to the California-based company’s manufacturing expansion in the country of India. Trump wants Apple to move iPhone manufacturing to the United States. Apple is moving iPhone production outside of China, due to the ongoing trade battle between China and the U.S.
“I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday, he is building all over India,” Trump told the assembled during his state visit to Qatar, reports Bloomberg.
“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. India can take care of themselves’.”
Trump claimed that as a result of the discussion, Apple will be “upping their production in the United States.”
Apple has increased its Indian iPhone production in recent months. Indian iPhone production hit $22 billion in the fiscal year ending in March, which is a nearly 60% over the previous fiscal year. The company plans to assemble most of the iPhones headed for the U.S. in India by the end of 2025.
While Apple and its assembly partners have been making moves to transition their production to countries other than China over the last few years, due to the COVID restrictions they were hit with during the pandemic, the process has accelerated in recent months, thanks to the U.S.-China trade war.
Foxconn assembles most of the Indian iPhones at its southern India plant. Apples other major assembly partner, Tata Group, acquired Wistron’s business operations in the South Asian country, while managing Pegatron’s operations in the country.
