President Donald Trump has urged Apple CEO Tim Cook to think twice about moving his iPhone production to India and consider a domestic location.
Speaking in Qatar on Thursday, Trump told reporters that he nudged Cook to find an alternative place to manufacture the highly complex devices. "I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday. I said to him, 'You're my friend, I've 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.
In April it was reported that Apple was planning to make most of the iPhones sold in the U.S. at factories in India by the end of 2026 as a way of circumventing the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration to goods coming out of China, where 90% of iPhones are made. While smartphones and personal computers are currently exempt from Trump's sweeping tariffs, the president has indicated such exclusions are only temporary.
That same month it was reported that Apple had preemptively shipped 600 tons of iPhones, equivalent to roughly 1.5 million devices, to the U.S. from India to build up inventory ahead of any trade war complications.
In early May, Cook announced that Apple would bring more of its semiconductor chip manufacturing out of China and into Taiwan while the company builds multiple plants in Arizona to ramp up domestic production. Apple announced on Monday of this week that it was weighing an increase in the prices of its fall lineup of iPhones which will come with several advances in an effort to attribute any rising cost to something other than tariffs.
Trump's relationship with Cook has remained positive since the president's first administration and Cook was one of the first tech leaders to meet with Trump following his 2024 election victory. Cook personally donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural committee and dined with the president at Mar-a-Lago to discuss the incoming president's agenda. Cook was unique among tech execs during Trump's first term as he sought to maintain a close relationship with the White House to aid the company in their various international legal battles.