Trump asks Apple to stop moving iPhone production to India

Bloomberg Jordan Fabian and Sankalp Phartiyal Follow Bloomberg India on WhatsApp for particular content and analysis on what billionaires businesses and markets are doing Sign up here President Donald Trump revealed he s questioned Apple Inc s Tim Cook to stop building plants in India to make devices for the US pushing the iPhone maker to add domestic production as it pivots away from China I had a little matter with Tim Cook the day prior Trump declared of his conversation with Apple s chief executive officer in Qatar where he s on a state visit He is building all over India I don t want you building in India As a development of their discussion Trump disclosed Apple will be upping their production in the United States Related Articles Coinbase says bribed workers leaked figures to hacker seeking million in ransom Cisco shares gain on positive sales forecast as AI buoys demand Magid How to keep your phone going all day Apple may owe you money Here s how to get it San Jose State University beats Stanford Cal in computer coding Apple representatives in India did not respond to a request for comment Trump s comments threaten to throw a wrench into Apple s plan to import majority of the iPhones it sells in the US from India by the end of next year accelerating a shift beyond China to mitigate risks related to tariffs and geopolitical tensions Apple makes bulk of its iPhones in China and has no smartphone production in the US though it s promised to hire more workers at home and pledged to spend billion domestically over the next four years Building iPhones from scratch in the US will be extremely complex even for cash-rich Apple The supply chain for iPhones and skilled labor for a such a precisely engineered product have been concentrated in China for years and Apple s only just started forging local partnerships in India Expensive American labor and manufacturing also makes iPhone production in the US untenable India on the other hand is one of Apple s fastest-growing markets with a vast customer base that aspires to buy its iconic products The country also has state subsidies to help it expand assembly This is a familiar Trump tactic He wants to push Apple to localize more and build a supply chain in the US which is not going to happen overnight stated Tarun Pathak research director at tech analytics firm Counterpoint Making in the US will also be much more expensive than assembling iPhones in India Apple and its suppliers have accelerated a shift away from the world s No financial market a process that began when harsh Covid lockdowns hurt production at its largest plant Tariffs introduced by Trump as well as Beijing-Washington tensions prompted Apple to amplify that effort The iPhone facilities in India produce more than million units per year about of Apple s annual output While Trump has pushed Apple to make iPhones in the US the lack of domestic engineering and manufacturing talent will make that nearly impossible in the short run Apple has one of the largest part sophisticated supply chains built out over years Pathak mentioned To disrupt that or to utterly move out of India or China will be extremely arduous Trump s comments suggest he s fine with Apple building its products in India for that arena You can build in India if you want to take care of India he disclosed Trump also discussed tariff negotiations with India saying the South Asian country has made an offer to drop import taxes on US goods India has one of the highest tariff obstructions in the world and it s very hard to sell American products in the planet s the greater part populous country Trump explained The bulk of India-made iPhones are assembled at Foxconn Instrument Group s factory in southern India Tata Group s electronics manufacturing arm which bought Wistron Corp s local business and runs Pegatron Corp s operations in India is another key supplier Tata and Foxconn are also building new plants and adding production threshold in southern India Bloomberg News disclosed previously Apple assembled billion worth of iPhones in India in the months through March increasing production by nearly over the previous year Updates with additional context in the fifth paragraph More stories like this are available on bloomberg com Bloomberg L P