US President Donald Trump took aim at Apple CEO Tim Cook during a May 15 state visit to Qatar, blasting the company’s plans to extend its Indian production of iPhones for the US market as it pivots from China.
The remarks followed Cook’s comments earlier this month that the company would import Indian-manufactured iPhones to meet US demand as it shifts production away from China to avoid heightened tariffs. He warned that Apple – which also announced plans to spend US$500 billion over the next four years expanding its US manufacturing – could face an extra US$900 million in third-quarter costs from tariffs.
Pressing for US production
“I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday,” Trump told a Doha business summit, part of his whistlestop Middle East tour this week.
“I said to him, ‘Tim, you’re my friend; I’ve 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.’”
Trump claimed that India has offered to eliminate tariffs on US goods. “They’re the highest, and now they’re saying, no tariff,” he said.
But he still wants Apple to produce US iPhones in the US. “We’re not interested in you building in India,” he said. “India can take care of themselves; they’re doing very well. We want you to build here.”
Apple has been diversifying its supply chain in response to Trump’s market-rattling tariff back-and-forth with China. That battle is currently in a 90-day détente, with US tariffs on Chinese imports down to 30% after Trump initially ratcheted them up to a whopping 145% following his ‘Liberation Day’ announcement. China has temporarily lowered tariffs on US goods to 10% from 125%.
‘Hottest country anywhere in the world’
Apple’s response has included plans to move all US iPhone production to India by the end of 2026.
But Trump’s comments signalled he does not want businesses turning to India as a manufacturing safe haven – and that the $500 billion US investment plan, including job creation and a new artificial intelligence facility in Houston, may not be a big enough commitment from Apple.
Meanwhile, analysts have highlighted the logistical and financial challenges of shifting iPhone production to the US.
In his remarks, Trump also claimed Apple would be “upping their production” even beyond the $500 billion investment and suggested it shows the United States’ tariff approach is working.
“We’ve gone from a laughingstock six months ago to the hottest country anywhere in the world, and that’s not just in business; that’s in everything else,” he said. “And it’s psychologically hot, too.”