President Donald Trump says he has told Tim Cook to stop building plants in India, calling for more domestic manufacturing of Apple products such as iPhones. As reported by CNBC, he says that Apple plans to increase its production in the United States as a result of his comments.
Trump made the remarks at a business event in Doha, Qatar, where he revealed he had spoken to Cook about the issue. When asked broadly about U.S. trade relations with India, he said, "I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday," referencing a meeting between the two. "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's comments refer to Apple's commitment to invest $500 billion in U.S. manufacturing over the next four years. It plans to expand its facilities in Michigan, Texas, California, Arizona, Nevada, Iowa, Oregon, North Carolina, and Washington, building a new factory in Texas and investing in TSMC's Fab 21 facility in Arizona, which started mass producing Apple chips in January.
"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... We’re not interested in you building in India, India can take care of themselves ... we want you to build here’,” President Trump continued.
As a result, the president says Apple is "upping their production in the United States," but did not elaborate on whether this is simply a reflection of Apple's previous efforts or an increased commitment.
The news comes as Apple and other tech giants try to pry themselves free of over-reliance on China for manufacturing, a weakness gravely exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Apple makes nearly all of its iPhones in China. While estimates vary, the number reported ranges between 80 and 90%. Apple's annual iPhone output from India is only around 10-20%, again depending on whose figures you use.
Apple has onshored swathes of manufacturing in the country, driven by generous tariffs, with manufacturing partners Foxconn and Pegatron now operating in the region alongside Tata, which acquired Wistron in the region.
Recent analyst estimates indicate an iPhone made in the US would increase labor costs alone by 25%, while Wedbush's Dan Ives touted that an iPhone made in America could cost some $3,500.
Apple is also battling tariff uncertainty, recently shipping five extra planeloads of iPhones from India in order to beat import duties introduced by Washington. Trump's latest comments will likely disrupt Apple's plans to withdraw more manufacturing from China, and could indicate the administration has a keen interest in ensuring that decoupling manufacturing from China goes hand in hand with more production on U.S. shores.
Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
