Will Apple see 'profit over pressure'? India hopeful Trump's tariff threats won't hamper iPhone production

The Indian government hopes that US President Donald Trump’s tariff threat on Apple for sourcing the country’s demand from India would not affect the iPhone maker’s operations in India.

Government sources have told News18 that officials are “sure that Apple will see profits over any pressure from the Trump administration” as the Tim Cook-led company faces a tariff of 25 per cent.

On Friday, Trump slammed Apple CEO Tim Cook for manufacturing and assembling iPhones in India, asserting that he will impose 25 per cent tariffs on the company if the phones sold in the US are not produced locally.

“I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhone’s that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else. If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the U.S. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

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Later on, the president expanded the tariffs to all smartphones produced outside of the US, including Samsung.

This is not the first time Trump has expressed his dissatisfaction over iPhone manufacturing in India. During his recent trip to West Asia, Trump said, “I had a little problem with Tim Cook. I said, Tim, we treated you really good. We put up with all the plants that you built in China for years now.”

Following this, Apple reportedly said that it will review plans to scale up substantially in India. The company said that while “regular expansion and China+1 production diversification plans will continue as envisaged”, Apple will review its strategy to manufacture phones exclusively from India instead of China.

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Meanwhile, earlier this week, Foxconn, Apple’s leading supplier, announced that it is proceeding with a $1.5 billion investment in a new component factory near Chennai, despite increasing political pressure from Trump to relocate production to the United States.