Earlier this month, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company will begin importing iPhones manufactured in India to meet the majority of demand nations. President Donald Trump doesn’t seem satisfied with that.
Speaking at the Doha Business Summit, Trump met with Cook and said he asked him to stop building India and increase production in the US instead.
“I told him, “Tim, you’re my friend, I treated you very well. You came up with $500 billion, but now I hear you’re building in India. I don’t want to build India. I can’t build India.
Trump, who was carrying offensive tariffs on much of the world, said Apple is currently producing “increasing” in the US, but he didn’t give him a timeline or details.
Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Earlier this year, Apple said it would spend $500 billion over the next four years to expand production in the US by installing facilities in various locations, opening new units, employing more than 20,000 people and opening a manufacturing academy.
Trump’s comments come the day after India approved a $435 million Foxconn project to manufacture Apple chips domestically. The company has ambitious plans to create alternative manufacturing units that will strengthen production in India and reduce dependence on China.
The April Bloomberg report suggests that Apple is already producing 20% of its iPhones in India. At the time, the Financial Times reported that Apple plans to import all iPhones for sale in the US by 2026.
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