President Donald Trump told Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook that he's not happy with the company's decision to move more iPhone production to India. He wants Apple to build iPhones in the U.S. Apple stock dipped on Thursday.
Trump told reporters Thursday that he asked Cook to stop building factories in India to make devices for the U.S. market.
"I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday," Trump said of his conversation with the Apple CEO. "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.'"
Trump was referencing Apple's commitment of a $500 billion investment in the U.S. which it announced in February.
Trump told Cook, "We're not interested in you building in India. India can take care of themselves. … We want you to build here."
As a result of their discussion, Trump said Apple will be "upping their production in the United States." He did not provide further details. And Apple did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump made the comments about the U.S. tech giant while discussing Washington's broader trade relations with India, CNBC reported.
Apple accelerated its production shift out of China after Trump imposed stiff tariffs on U.S. imports of Chinese goods. One of Trump's goals with his tariff policy is to get companies to reshore manufacturing in the U.S.
Apple plans to make most of its U.S.-bound iPhones in India by the end of next year. It also has moved production of iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and AirPods products to Vietnam.
"This is a familiar Trump tactic: He wants to push Apple to localize more and build a supply chain in the U.S., which is not going to happen overnight," Tarun Pathak, research director at tech analytics firm Counterpoint, told Bloomberg. "Making in the U.S. will also be much more expensive than assembling iPhones in India."
On the stock market today, Apple stock slid 0.4% to close at 211.45.
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