President Donald Trump has asked Apple CEO Tim Cook to halt the company's manufacturing expansion in India, in a potential disruption of Apple's plan to shift iPhone production away from China.
"I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday," Trump said during his state visit to Qatar, according to Bloomberg. "He is building all over 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. India can take care of themselves'."
Trump claimed that following their discussion, Apple will be "upping their production in the United States."
In the fiscal year ending March, Apple's iPhone production in India reached $22 billion, a nearly 60% increase compared to the previous year. However, Trump's comments complicate Apple's strategy to import most US-bound iPhones from India by the end of next year.
Apple and its manufacturing partners have accelerated their movement away from China in recent months. The trend began after COVID restrictions disrupted operations, and has only accelerated amid ongoing US-China tensions, particularly in the wake of Trump's on-again, off-again tariffs.
Most India-manufactured iPhones are assembled at Foxconn's factory in the southern part of the country. Tata Group's electronics manufacturing arm, which acquired Wistron's local business and manages Pegatron's operations in India, is another major supplier.
When asked about the supply chain's future during the company's recent earnings call, Cook said: "What we learned some time ago, having everything in one location had too much risk with it. We have, over time, with certain parts of the supply chain, opened up new sources of supply. You could see that kind of thing continuing in the future."
During the same earnings call, Cook highlighted Apple's impact in the United States, including plans to spend $500 billion over the next four years and expanding facilities in several states. A new factory for advanced server manufacturing in Texas is scheduled to open later this year.
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