US President Donald Trump again on Friday demanded pressure on Apple over the decision to increase his iPhone production in India.
Trump said Apple would have to pay 25 percent import tariffs if mobile handsets sold in the US are not produced within the country’s borders.
In a social media post on his truth social, US President Donald Trump wrote, “I have informed Apple’s Tim Cook long ago that I hope his iPhone will be sold in the United States and built in the United States, not in India, not in India, or elsewhere,”
“If this is not the case, the tariff of at least 25% should be paid by Apple, which thanks America for your attention on the matter,” he added to the post.
Earlier on 15 May, speaking in Doha, Trump said that he spoke with Apple CEO Tim Cook and asked him to limit Apple’s expansion in India.
Recently, Apple took some steps to expand its iPhone production in India, establishing assembly plants working 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 Tata group production units.
In the last financial year, Apple produced $ 22 billion $ 22 billion iphones in India in 12 months through March 2025, which is 60 percent jump from the previous year.
Apple created about 40–45 million iPhones in India in 2024, accounting for 18–20 percent of its global production. Of this, about 15 million were exported to America, 13 million in other international markets, and about 12 million were sold in the Indian market.
In January 2025, Apple achieved the 11th consecutive quarter revenue record in India, with iPhone sales in 2024 USD 10 billion USD.
India stands globally as the fourth largest market of apples in 2024 after the US, China and Japan.
As reported last month, in a strategic move, Apple decided to change all the production of iPhones fixed from China to India from China to India, in a strategic move, as reported by both China and the US against each other. (AI)