In comments to press this morning, President Donald Trump said he has an issue with Apple’s handling of the tariff policy in regard to iPhone production.
Trump wants Apple to build iPhones domestically in the United States, but has clearly seen the recent news that Apple will source most of the iPhones sold in the US quarter from India, rather than China. “I don’t want you building in India”, he said …
It has been reported that within the next couple of years Apple is trying to import all iPhones intended to be sold in the US, from India, rather than China, in a diversification of its production pipeline. Right now, that means avoiding the higher tariff rates imposed on Chinese exports.
Indeed, on the latest company earnings call, Apple said most iPhones sold in the June quarter will have India as their country of origin.
Naturally, the Trump administration see the tariff policy as a way to incentivize companies to manufacture more locally, and Apple has so far shown no signs of doing so. Cook has previously indicated it is simply unfeasible, due to the lack of U.S. manufacturing facilities and talent.
Here’s what Trump said:
“I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday. I said to him, my friend, I treated you very good. You’re coming here with $500 billion, but now I hear you’re building all over India. I don’t want you building in India.”
“I said, Tim look, we treated you really good, we put up with all the plants that you build in China for years, now you got build us. We’re not interested in you building in India. India can take care of themselves, we want you to build here.”
The $500 billion number refers to U.S investment Apple has pledged for the next four years, covering infrastructure projects like a new factory for Apple Intelligence servers, R&D, data centers, Apple TV+ productions, and more. It does not include any plans to manufacture Apple consumer devices domestically.
For US sales, Apple’s public statements to investors indicate it will source most iPhones from India, and products like Mac, iPad and AirPods from Vietnam. iPhones produced in China will be sold locally and exported to other countries around the world that do not impose tariffs.
Apple previously indicated that tariff policy would cost the company almost a billion dollars in the April – June quarter, however this was before the recent US-China trade deal amnesty. But with these interim deals set to expire in 90 days, the future impact on U.S. businesses remains very much uncertain.
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