“India Can Take Care of Themselves,” Trump tells the CEO of Apple not to build in India.
President Donald Trump recently said he had a “small problem” with Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, at a business event in Doha. According to Trump, Cook should not increase Apple’s manufacturing in India.
“Tim, you’re my friend and I’ve treated you really nicely. You bring in $500 billion, but right now I hear you building a lot in India. That is not what I want, Trump informed the gathering. “Build in India if you are doing it for India. Remember, though, India is among the nations with highest tariffs worldwide, thus selling there is quite difficult.
Trump also claimed that India has presented the US a trade agreement including zero taxes on American products. About such a contract, the Indian government does not formally confirm, though.
“They (India) declared they would not levy any taxes on US goods. “We’ve treated you nicely, and we tolerated all the plants you set up in China over the years,” I informed Tim. Now, though, we are not interested in you building in India. Let India tend to herself, Trump said.
His remarks are especially timely as Apple wants to move its manufacturing from China to other nations like India to evade US taxes on Chinese goods. Reports state Apple intended to produce a lot of iPhones for the US market in India. (Also read: Trump Claims Credit as India and Pakistan Suddenly Call for Ceasefire)
CEO Tim Cook recently expressed his expectation that, in the next years, most iPhones sold in the US would be manufactured in India. Apple has three factories in India already: one in Karnataka, two in Tamil Nadu. Foxconn and Tata Group runs these. Two further factories are also under development.
Apple assembled iPhones valued ₹1.83 lakh crore ($22 billion) in India last year (ending March), a 60% rise over the year before.
Trump also made hints on Thursday about a significant trade deal with India, where he said India would stop taxing US goods. India now assigns some of the highest tariffs on American products, hence this would be a significant change.
Early pre-market trade saw Apple’s stock decline 1% following Trump’s statements. Apple has not answered the remark yet.
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