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Trump Tells Apple to Stop Building in India and Focus on the U.S.
It is being said that the former President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, told Apple CEO Tim Cook that he didn’t want Apple to manufacture in India. Trump, during his public speech on Indian widening production for Apple and plans of the company to lessen its dependence on China, shared this.
Trump with some grievance said, "I recently had a little problem with Tim Cook. I told him, Tim, I treated you really well. You're investing $500 billion in the U.S. , but now I hear you're building all over India. I don't want that. I want you to build in America."
This came after Apple had declared this year that it would invest $500 billion in the United States and open a new factory in Texas to produce servers for its AI platform, called Apple Intelligence.
Meanwhile, Apple is incentivizing its production in India. Therefore, Apple is looking forward to producing almost 25% of all iPhones in India over the next few years. Presently, 90% of Apple iPhones are made in China. Apple aims to decrease this dependence by shifting some of its production to India and Vietnam.
Trump said he stands against this. "We allowed you to build in China for years, and we put up with it. Now it's time for you to build in the U.S. We don't want you building in India. India can take care of itself."
Trump spoke about U.S.-India trade relations. He called India “one of the highest tariff nations in the world.” But he also said that India had recently offered a tariff-free trade process to the U.S. However, Trump did impose reciprocal tariffs of 26% on Indian goods, although currently under suspension until July.
Meanwhile, Foxconn, Apple's key partner in India, got the approval to build a $433 million semiconductor plant in India with HCL Group, another way the Apple footprint is growing in India.
Apple has created a robust supply chain over the years in China but, with rising costs, political tension, and the necessity for flexibility, much more production of devices is happening in countries such as India and Vietnam.
According to the experts, it is almost impossible to expect an iPhone production shift to the U.S. The cost of manufacturing iPhones stateside would be far too premium, with some estimates putting this figure at anywhere ranging between $1,500 and $3,500—far beyond the current pricing.
Presently, Apple manufacturers some of its products in the U.S., including the Mac Pro, while the Texas facility is slated to manufacture servers for Apple Intelligence but is not expected to be involved in high-volume production of iPhones.
While these statements from Trump shed light on a strong push for 'Made in America,' industry analysts are convinced that given the economics and logistics of smartphone manufacturing, it is very difficult for Apple to bring main production home to the U.S.
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