On May 15 in Doha, Qatar, former U.S. President Donald Trump stated that he had a conversation with Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook, during which he advised against building factories in India—unless the purpose was to serve the Indian market directly.
“I told Apple CEO Tim Cook that we’re not interested in you building in India—they can take care of themselves,” Trump said, according to a report by Bloomberg.
During his remarks in Doha on May 15, former U.S. President Donald Trump said that following a conversation with Apple CEO Tim Cook, the company will be “upping their production in the United States.”
Trump expressed frustration over Apple’s reported plans to expand in India, stating, “I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday. I said to him, my friend, I am treating you very good. You are coming up with $500 billion, but now I hear you are building all over India. I don’t want you building in India.”
He clarified that Apple could build in India only if the goal was to serve the Indian market directly, noting India’s historically high tariffs on U.S. goods. However, he added that India has now offered a deal to eliminate tariffs on U.S. products.
“India is one of the highest tariff nations in the world, so it is very hard to sell in India. They have offered us a deal where basically they have agreed to charge us literally no tariffs,” Trump said, according to CNBC-TV18. “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.”
At a business event in Qatar on May 15, former U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that India has offered the U.S. a significant trade concession: “India has offered us a deal where basically they are willing to literally charge us no tariff,” he said.
Trump’s remarks came amid rising tensions over Apple’s global manufacturing strategy. The company is reportedly accelerating its plans to produce the majority of iPhones sold in the U.S. at factories in India by the end of 2026, aiming to reduce reliance on China and avoid potential tariff hikes, a source told Reuters last month.
Currently, Apple sells over 60 million iPhones annually in the U.S., with around 80% of them manufactured in China. While making iPhones in India incurs 5–8% higher costs compared to China—and up to 10% more in some cases—Apple is expanding Indian production to mitigate tariff risks.
In March alone, Apple shipped approximately 600 tons of iPhones worth $2 billion from India to the United States, setting a new export record for its contractors Tata and Foxconn. Foxconn alone accounted for $1.3 billion of that total, Reuters reported.
In April, the U.S. administration imposed a 26% tariff on imports from India—significantly lower than the more than 100% duties levied on Chinese imports at the time. Since then, Washington has paused most tariffs for three months, with the exception of those on Chinese goods.
Apple has been rapidly expanding its manufacturing footprint in India. In 2024, the company produced approximately 40–45 million iPhones in the country, representing 18–20% of its global iPhone output. Of these, around 14–15 million units were exported to the U.S., 13 million to other international markets, and about 12 million sold within India.
During Apple’s recent earnings call, CEO Tim Cook confirmed the company expects most iPhones sold in the U.S. during the June quarter to originate from India. Meanwhile, almost all iPads, MacBooks, Apple Watches, and AirPods sold in the U.S. will be manufactured in Vietnam.
“The existing tariffs that apply to Apple today are based on the product’s country of origin… We do expect the majority of iPhones sold in the U.S. will have India as their country of origin and Vietnam to be the country of origin for almost all iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and AirPods products sold in the U.S. China would continue to be the country of origin for the vast majority of total product sales outside the U.S.,” Cook stated.
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