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Tim Cook (left) and Trump in a previous meeting — image credit: White House
President Trump says he has a “little problem with Tim Cook,” apparently because Foxconn — a company that Cook is not the CEO of — has been expanding factories in India for years.
Tim Cook has famously handled Trump better than many or most business CEOs, which resulted in him getting Apple a crucial exemption in the first tariffs, and then at least temporary ones in the new “reciporcal” tariffs. But now Trump is saying Apple’s suppliers need to come through on manufacturing in the US, and that the announced $500 billion plan isn’t enough.
“I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday,” Trump said to press on May 15, 2025, according to CNBC. “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.”
“I said to Tim, I said, ‘Tim look, we treated you really good, we put up with all the plants that you build in China for years, now you got build us,” he continued. “We’re not interested in you building in India, India can take care of themselves… we want you to build here’.”
Trump then told press that Apple would be “upping” its manufacturing in the US, although as ever he gave no details. These latest comments follow a similarly unspecific claim on May 12 where Trump said Tim Cook will “even up his numbers.”
The “reciprocal” tariffs are still claimed to be punishing other countries, and persuading firms to bring manufacturing to the States. In reality, tariffs are fees paid by US firms and consumers, while other countries are benefiting from companies moving production to them.
That does include Apple suppliers, who have been spending billions to expand in India over the last several years. The result is that at present, India makes one in five of all iPhones.
Apple does not own its suppliers, and Foxconn’s plan to double iPhone production in India by the end of 2025 is its own. Similarly, the two new iPhone factories being opened by Foxconn and India’s own Tata Group are not owned by Apple.
However, as long ago as 2019, Apple has been reported to have a special team explicitly investigating the costs of moving out of China for both it and its suppliers. In 2022, it was claimed that the company has reportedly also asked suppliers to make such a move.
Tariffs just hasten the move to India
This reshoring does now have the advantage that it helps minimize the impact of Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs. While Apple and other firms still face tariffs on imports, the rate is lower than it would be with China.
However, Apple has also been expanding to India and Vietnam expressly in order to cut its over-reliance on China. Problems with China during COVID delayed the iPhone 14 Pro, for instance, and subsequently the country has implemented intermittent power cuts on factories.
Manufacturing will not return to the US
In the case of Apple, Trump has repeatedly said that the iPhone could be built in the US. Similarly, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said Apple is just waiting for robots before it moves production to the States.
Lutnick said that was what Tim Cook told him, although there is some doubt whether he and Cook actually spoke. It’s also not clear how using robots to build the iPhone would bring back jobs to the US.
It’s also moot, though, and up to now it’s been solely a political as it’s impossible since the US has neither the required skilled labor, or the rare minerals needed.
Trump’s latest comments, though, seem to escalate the tensions between the White House and Apple. They don’t bode well for the semiconductor tariffs Apple is certain to be hit later.
Apple has not yet commented on Trump’s statements. It probably won’t.
