Washington: United States President Donald Trump has issued a strong warning to Apple, stating that while the company is free to move its manufacturing operations to India, it will not be permitted to sell its products in the US without incurring tariffs.
Speaking from the Oval Office on Friday as he signed several executive orders aimed at boosting the country’s nuclear power industry, Trump referenced a prior understanding he claimed to have had with Apple CEO Tim Cook regarding the company’s production plans. “But I had an understanding with Tim that he wouldn't be doing this. He said he's going to India to build plants. I said, ‘That's okay to go to India, but you're not going to sell into here without tariffs.’ And that's the way it is,” the President asserted.
Focusing on Apple’s flagship product, Trump added, “We’re talking about the iPhone. If they’re going to sell it in America, I want it to be built in the United States.”
Earlier on Friday, Trump reiterated his stance in a social media post, expressing expectations that all iPhones sold in the United States should be manufactured domestically. He warned of a steep tariff should the company fail to comply. “I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhones that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else. If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the US. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” he wrote.
This marks a continuation of Trump’s public criticism of Apple’s manufacturing shift to India. Just last week, during his visit to the Middle East, Trump told executives in Doha that he had confronted Cook over the company's investment strategy. “We have Apple, as you know, that's coming in, and I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday,” he said. “I said to him, ‘Tim, you're my friend. I treated you very good. You're coming here with USD 500 billion but now I hear you're building all over India. I don't want you building in India.’”
He further criticised India’s trade policies, stating, “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. And they’ve offered us a deal where, basically they're willing to literally charge us no tariff.”
Earlier this month, during Apple’s Q2 2025 Earnings Conference call, CEO Tim Cook indicated a growing reliance on Indian manufacturing for US-bound products. “For the June quarter, 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,” Cook said.
Industry analysts have described Trump’s remarks as a familiar strategy aimed at pressuring companies to onshore production. Counterpoint Research Director Tarun Pathak commented, “This is a familiar Trump tactic: He wants to push Apple to localise more and build a supply chain in the US, which is not going to happen overnight. Making in the US will also be much more expensive than assembling iPhones in India.”
Counterpoint’s Vice President Neil Shah added that Apple has been steadily building its Indian operations to meet growing global demand. “India has enough capacity to potentially meet all US iPhone demand in the future, but the ecosystem needs to be ramped up. We will see more efforts towards this as well as products beyond iPhones,” he said.
Shah further projected that iPhones made in India could account for 25% to 30% of global shipments in 2025, up from 18% in 2024.
With PTI inputs