New Delhi: It was three months ago that Donald Trump told Apple CEO Tim Cook that he doesn’t want the tech giant to build its products in India.
“I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday. 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 said in May, referring to Apple’s commitment of a $500 billion investment in the US.
But it seems the US President’s veiled warning has fallen on deaf ears.
The company has already made a move to diversify manufacture of its products away from China, towards India.
Now, Apple Inc. is set to step up its iPhone production in India, moving assembly of all upcoming iPhone 17 models to five local factories, including two that have just started operations, Bloomberg reported citing sources.
This is the first time that all models of an iPhone series, including the premium Pro version, will be manufactured in India.
Tata Group’s plant at Hosur in Tamil Nadu and Foxconn’s hub near Bengaluru airport are central to this expansion in India, as per Bloomberg.
Tata, which has emerged as Apple’s fastest-rising partner, is likely to handle almost half of India’s iPhone production within two years.
Apple’s policy has already boosted India’s exports. iPhones worth $7.5 billion were shipped from India between April and July this year, as against $17 billion during the entire previous fiscal year.
Trump’s aggressive tariff policy, including against China, has made Apple wary. Smartphones and iPhones have thus far been shielded from blanket tariffs, but Trump has repeatedly attacked US companies for relying on China.
Now, even India is facing Trump’s wrath. The US recently slapped an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods as a ‘punishment’ for buying Russian oil.
Trump also doesn’t like the idea of iPhones being manufactured in India.
“If Apple wants to make iPhones for Americans, they should be making them in America, not in China, not in India,” the US President said recently.
It remains to be seen how Trump reacts to Apple’s decision of making all iPhone 17 series models in India.
