Trump Doesn’t Want Apple to Make iPhones in India, Tells Cook, ‘They Can Take Care of Themselves’

New Delhi: United States President Donald Trump, who is on a three-country swing in the Middle East, said that he discouraged Apple’s CEO Tim Cook from opening an Apple manufacturing plant in India unless he ‘wants to take care of India’. He also claimed that India offered the US “a deal” with “literally no tariffs”.

Addressing a business event in Doha, Qatar, Trump said, "I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday. I said to him, 'Tim, you're my friend. I've treated you very well. You're coming in with USD 500 billion, but now I hear you're building all over India. 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. It's very hard to sell into India.”

Trump’s comments also come amid icy undercurrents in India-US trade ties that have seemed apparent since the announcement of reciprocal tariffs. He was speaking on Washington’s broader trade relations with India.

He added, "They've offered us a deal where basically they're willing to – literally – they charge us no tariff. We go from the highest tariff – you couldn't do business in India, we're not even in the top 30 in India because the tariff is so high – to a point where they have actually told us (I assume you too, Scott, you were working on that also) that there will be no tariff. Would you say that's the difference? They were the highest, and now they're saying no tariff,”

“But I said to Tim, 'Tim, look, we've treated you really well. We put up with all the plants that you built in China for years. You've got to build here. We're not interested in you building in India. India can take care of themselves, they are doing very well. We want you to build here,” he said.

Meanwhile, regarding Trump's statement that India had offered the US a trade deal with zero tariffs, commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal said, "Any statement which is coming from the head of a government elsewhere, I think it has been appropriately replied to at the level of the external affairs minister. So, I would not like to comment any further."

Speaking to news agency ANI, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar reportedly said, “Between India and the US, trade talks have been going on. These are complicated negotiations. Nothing is decided till everything is…Until that is done, any judgment on it would be premature.”

Tim Cook had previously confirmed that Apple Inc. will produce a majority of iPhones sold in the US in India at least in the June quarter amid uncertainties with China, which has so far been the epicentre of its manufacturing prowess.

“We do expect the majority of iPhones sold in the US will have India as their country of origin,” Cook said, as quoted by Moneycontrol. Meanwhile, Vietnam will handle most production for iPads, Macs, Apple Watches, and AirPods heading to the US.

While Cook said it was difficult to predict beyond June, a report by The Indian Express stated that Apple wants to move a quarter of all iPhone production to India in the next few years.

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