If iPhones are made in India or elsewhere, 25% tariff will be imposed…Donald Trump threatens Apple

New Delhi: US President Donald Trump on Friday (May 23, 2025) gave a big warning to iPhone maker Apple, saying that if iPhones are made in other countries and sold in America, then the company will have to pay 25 percent tariff. Donald Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social and said that he has told Apple CEO Tim Cook that the iPhones sold in America will be manufactured in the country itself, not in India or any other country.

Donald Trump wrote in the post that I had told Tim Cook long ago that I hope that his iPhones sold in the United States will be manufactured in the United States itself, not in India or any other place. He further said that if this is not the case then Apple will have to pay at least 25 percent tariff to America.

In the last 5 years, India has emerged as one of the largest manufacturing centers of Apple’s iPhone. The company’s assembly lines in the country churned out smartphones worth $22 billion in the 12 months to date last fiscal. The US-based company has produced 60 per cent more iPhones in India than in the past year.

Last month, Reuters reported that Apple is setting up India as an alternate manufacturing base amid supply-chain concerns and fears of a rise in iPhone prices due to Trump’s tariffs on China. Just last week, US President Donald Trump told Apple CEO Tim Cook not to produce iPhones in India and focus on manufacturing in the US.

Trump, who has upset global markets due to tariff policies, said in Qatar that he does not want Cook to manufacture in India. Trump said, “Yesterday I had a little problem with Tim Cook. He is manufacturing all over India. I don’t want you to manufacture in India.”