'I don't want you building in India': Donald Trump to Apple CEO Tim Cook

Speaking at a business event in Doha, Trump said, "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."

"They (India) offered us a deal where basically they have agreed to charge us literally no tariffs. I said Tim, we are treating you really good, we put up with all the plants you built in China for years. We are not interested in you building in India. India can take care of themselves."

India hasn't yet made any such announcement regarding the trade deal.

Apple, whose products' demands have shot up in India over the years, currently has three plants- two in Tamil Nadu and one in Karnataka- in the South Asian country.

While Foxconn operates one of the three plants, Tata Group controls the rest. Two more plants of the American tech giant are on the way to be built in India.

Cook has aimed at relocating Apple's manufacturing from China which was hit by Trump's tariff war.

Cook turned towards China's hostile neighbour India amid the Washington-Beijing trade war.

Anticipating steep import tariffs, Apple had airlifted record iPhones worth $2 billion from India to the US in March 2025 in a stockpiling bid.

The company had airlifted the Apple products in five cargo planes even before the trade war kicked in.

However on April 12, the Trump administration had exempted Apple products from the reciprocal tariffs.

During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's US visit earlier this year, Trump called India's premier "a much tougher and better negotiator" than him.

Trump had said, "He is a much tougher negotiator than me and he is a much better negotiator than me. There is not even a contest."

Though India was also included in Trump's 'reciprocal tariff' list, it was paused for 90 days for all countries except China.

Meanwhile, India and the US are currently discussing reciprocal tariff agreement.

Contrary to Trump's claim that New Delhi has offered an almost zero-tariff deal, reports suggest India mulling removal of tariffs on 90 percent of US exports but only if Washington reciprocates.