As Apple moves production from China to India, Trump reiterates that he wants it in the US
Despite a cooling trade war with China, where Apple produces a big chunk of its products, the iPhone maker is still feeling the heat from the Trump administration.
Today, President Trump said he told Apple CEO Tim Cook yesterday he had a “little problem” with him, according to a CNBC report.
To avoid sky-high tariffs in China, Apple had reportedly planned to move production to India next year for all 60 million iPhones it sells in the US. On the company’s latest earnings call, Cook said, “For the June quarter, we do expect the majority of iPhones sold in the US will have India as their country of origin.”
Of course, the administration’s intention with the tariffs was to move iPhone and other tech production to the US — something analysts have previously said isn’t really possible and would also be prohibitively expensive. That’s not deterring Trump.
“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,” Trump said he told Cook, referencing Apple’s commitment to spend $500 billion on US expansion over his administration.
“I said to Tim, I said, ‘Tim look, we’ve treated you really good, we put up with all the plants that you build in China for years — now you’ve got to build us. We’re not interested in you building in India. India can take care of themselves... We want you to build here,’” Trump said.
Trump said Apple would be “upping” its US production but didn’t give details.
To avoid sky-high tariffs in China, Apple had reportedly planned to move production to India next year for all 60 million iPhones it sells in the US. On the company’s latest earnings call, Cook said, “For the June quarter, we do expect the majority of iPhones sold in the US will have India as their country of origin.”
Of course, the administration’s intention with the tariffs was to move iPhone and other tech production to the US — something analysts have previously said isn’t really possible and would also be prohibitively expensive. That’s not deterring Trump.
“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,” Trump said he told Cook, referencing Apple’s commitment to spend $500 billion on US expansion over his administration.
“I said to Tim, I said, ‘Tim look, we’ve treated you really good, we put up with all the plants that you build in China for years — now you’ve got to build us. We’re not interested in you building in India. India can take care of themselves... We want you to build here,’” Trump said.
Trump said Apple would be “upping” its US production but didn’t give details.
