Trump urges Apple CEO Tim Cook to limit production in India

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday (May 15, 2025) claimed that India has offered to drop all tariffs on American goods.

Speaking at a business roundtable in Doha, Mr. Trump also said he had a “little problem” with Tim Cook, and he told the Apple CEO that he does not want him to build iPhones in India.

Mr. Trump, who is in Qatar as part of his four-day visit to the Gulf region, was talking about Apple’s plans to make iPhones in India.

“I said to him (Cook), my friend, I am treating you very good. You are coming up with $500 billion, but now I hear you are building all over India. I don’t want you building in India. 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, so it is very hard to sell in India,” Mr. Trump said.

“They (India) have offered us a deal where basically they have agreed to charge us literally no tariffs. I said ‘Tim, we are treating you really good, we put up with all the plants you built in China for years. We are not interested in you building in India. India can take care of themselves’,” he added.

There has been no such announcement from India.

Mr. Trump’s comments came nearly two weeks after Mr. Cook said his company made quarterly records in several countries, including India.

Also read: CEO Cook to welcome customers as Apple set to open first retail store in India

Apple will source the majority of the iPhones sold in the U.S. from India in the June quarter, while China will produce the vast majority of the devices for other markets amid uncertainty over tax tariffs, Mr. Cook said earlier this month.

According to an analysis by S&P Global, Apple’s iPhone sales in the U.S. were 75.9 million units in 2024, with exports in March from India equivalent to 3.1 million units.

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Earlier this month, Mr. Trump had claimed that India “agreed” to drop its high tariffs “to nothing”.

In the past, Mr. Trump has called India “tariff king” and a “big abuser”.

Last month, Mr. Trump had said negotiations with India over a bilateral trade deal are “coming along great” and he thinks “we’ll have a deal with India”.

Mr. Trump announced sweeping reciprocal tariffs on several countries, including India and China, on April 2. However, on April 9, he announced a 90-day suspension of these tariffs until July 9 this year, except for those on China and Hong Kong, as about 75 countries approached America for trade deals.