Trump Says He Has ‘A Little Problem With Tim Cook’ Regarding Apple’s Plans to Increase iPhone Production in India

Arjun Kharpal, reporting for CNBC:

“I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday,” Trump said. “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 was referencing Apple’s commitment of a $500 billion investment in the U.S. which was announced in February.

And which would have almost certainly been the same thing they would have announced if Kamala Harris had won the election. They announced a $430 billion US investment in 2021, in the first year of the Biden administration.

Apple has been ramping up production in India with the aim of making around 25% of global iPhones in the country in the next few years, as it looks to reduce reliance on China, where around 90% of its flagship smartphone is currently assembled.

“I said to Tim, 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 [sic]. We’re not interested in you building in India, India can take care of themselves ... we want you to build here,’” Trump said.

The U.S. president added that Apple is going to be “upping” its production in the United States, without disclosing further details.

If Apple were to assemble a single iPhone in the United States, that would be upping its US iPhone production, which, since the original iPhone in 2007, is at zero. It’s not a matter of willpower or spending — it just isn’t possible at anything even vaguely approaching the iPhone’s scale.

★ Thursday, 15 May 2025