- By Ajeet Kumar
- Thu, 15 May 2025 03:53 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
US President Donald Trump, who has been constantly taking credit for the recent ceasefire between India and Pakistan, has again irked New Delhi by asking Apple CEO Tim Cook to limit his company's expansion plans in India. On Thursday, Trump said that he had spoken with Cook and asked him to limit Apple's expansion in India.
"I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday. I said to him, 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," President Trump said while addressing a news conference in Doha, Qatar.
VIDEO | Addressing a business event in Doha, US President Donald Trump (@realDonaldTrump) said:
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) May 15, 2025
"I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday. I said to him, 'Tim, you're my friend. I've treated you very well. You're coming in with $500 billion, but now I hear you're building… pic.twitter.com/YstQlDbPEQ
Apple's iPhone expansion plan
The statement came at a time when Apple took some steps to expand its iPhone production in India, setting up assembly plants operating in the country. Two of these plants are located in Tamil Nadu, and one is in Karnataka. For these plants, Apple has signed a contract with manufacturers, such as Foxconn and the Tata Group, to set up production units.
In the last fiscal year, Apple produced USD 22 billion worth of iPhones in India in the 12 months through March 2025, which is a huge 60 per cent jump from the prior year. Apple manufactured approximately 40-45 million iPhones in India in 2024, accounting for 18-20 per cent of its global output. Of this, about 15 million were exported to the US, 13 million to other international markets, and about 12 million were sold in the Indian market.
Apple's record sale in India
In January 2025, Apple achieved an 11th consecutive quarterly revenue record in India, with iPhone sales estimated at USD 10 billion in 2024. India stands as Apple's fourth-largest market globally in 2024, after the US, China, and Japan. As reported last month, driven by the escalating trade tensions and high reciprocal tariffs announced by both China and the US against each other, in a strategic move Apple decided to transition all production of iPhones destined for the US market to India from China.
Since then, the US and China have arrived at an agreement that they will withdraw their previously announced reciprocal tariffs and counter tariffs for an initial period of 90 days. The tariffs for 90 days are reduced by 115 per cent, by both US and China against each other. China will impose 10 per cent tariffs on US goods, and the US will tax Chinese goods at about 30 per cent.
(With inputs from agency)
Also Read: India Has Offered Trade Deal To US With No Tariffs: Trump's BIG Claim