President Trump wants an American-made iPhone. Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook has no plans to deliver one any time soon.
Tension between the president and one of America’s most valuable companies spilled into the open Thursday, when Trump chided Cook for the iPhone-maker’s plans to shift final assembly for many U.S.-bound devices to India. Trump reiterated his demand that Apple bring manufacturing back to America.
That conflict erupted into the open Thursday, when Trump chided Cook for the iPhone-maker's plans to shift final assembly for many U.S.-bound devices to India. Trump reiterated his demand that Apple bring manufacturing back to America.
"I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday. I said to him, 'Tim, You're my friend. I treated you very good. You're coming here with $500 billion, but now here you are building all over India,'" Trump said in Qatar.
"'We're not interested in you building in India. India can take care of themselves. They're doing very well. We want you to build'" in the U.S., Trump said he told Cook.
An Apple spokesman didn't respond a request for comment.
Apple shares barely budged. The company’s shares traded slightly down, in line with the market, suggesting that Apple investors aren’t as spooked as they had been by Trump’s trade bluster. The stock had fallen in the wake of the “Liberation Day” tariffs and tit-for-tat increases targeting China, but they recovered quickly when Trump rolled them back.
Apple is studying ways to manufacture iPhones in the U.S., but the effort could take years, The Wall Street Journal has reported.
Apple has plans to build artificial-intelligence servers in Texas and said it would spend $500 billion over the next four years in the U.S. But the outlay doesn't imply a significant increase in Apple spending given the size of the company.
Trump's comments underline his continuing effort to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. and the challenges it faces. Companies have announced plans to invest billions of dollars in the U.S., but it isn't certain the investments will create many more manufacturing jobs.
Despite Trump's tariffs, manufacturing tech products overseas is still cheaper than in the U.S., according to analysts.
"You can't pretend that a supply chain that has been built over the span of two decades on the back of a labor pool of millions paid a few dollars per hour is something you could move to the U.S. in one, three, five or even 10 years," said Craig Moffett, an analyst who writes about Apple for Moffett Nathanson.
After Trump raised tariffs on goods made in China, Apple stepped up its effort to assemble U.S.-bound iPhones in India. Such a move would allow it to claim India as the "country of origin" and pay the lower duties facing that nation.
Key components inside the smartphone are still made in China and simply shipped to India for final assembly.