Not Interested In Apple Manufacturing In India: Donald Trump To Tim Cook

Trump's displeasure on Apple's India plans: During his visit to Qatar, US President Donald Trump voiced his disinterest in Apple Inc. upscaling its manufacturing operations in India.

Speaking to CEO of Apple Inc Tim Cook, Trump said there’s no need to build factories in India unless it’s to serve that market specifically.

Further he said, Apple will be “upping their production in the United States".

"Told Apple CEO Tim Cook we're not interested in you building in India, they can take care of themselves," said Trump in Doha about his conversation with Cook, reported Bloomberg.

As a result of their discussion, Trump said the California-headquartered tech giant Apple will be “upping their production in the United States".

Reportedly, Trump mentioned to Cook, "I don’t want you building in India. You can build in India, if you want to take care of India because India is one of the highest tariff nations in the world so it is very hard to sell in India." 

Offering an insight on trade negotiations with India, he mentioned that the south Asian nation country has dropped all tariffs on the U.S.

"India has offered us a deal where basically they are willing to literally charge us no tariff," he said.

Will Apple's plans to manufacture iPhones take a hit?

Tech major Apple intends to manufacture most of its iPhones sold in the United States at its factories in India by the end of 2026. To make this a reality, the production pace has taken off to navigate potentially higher tariffs in China, where its consolidated its main manufacturing base, as per a Reuters report.

Currently, Apple sells over 60 million iPhones in the U.S every year with roughly 80 per cent of this being produced in China.

For iPhones, the production costs in India are 5-8 per cent higher than in China, with the difference rising to as much as 10 per cent in some cases.