Trump Tells Apple CEO To Avoid Manufacturing in India (livemint.com) 100
U.S. President Donald Trump said he has told Apple CEO Tim Cook to stop expanding manufacturing operations in India despite New Delhi offering a "no-tariff deal" to the United States, a move that could impede India's aspirations to become a global technology manufacturing hub.
"I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday," Trump said during his state visit to Qatar, referring to the Apple chief executive. "He is building all over India. I don't want you building in India. India can take care of itself."
Apple has significantly increased its Indian manufacturing footprint, assembling $22 billion worth of iPhones in India during the 12 months through March. Apple said earlier this month a majority of its devices shipped into the U.S. in the June quarter will originate in India and Vietnam.
"I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday," Trump said during his state visit to Qatar, referring to the Apple chief executive. "He is building all over India. I don't want you building in India. India can take care of itself."
Apple has significantly increased its Indian manufacturing footprint, assembling $22 billion worth of iPhones in India during the 12 months through March. Apple said earlier this month a majority of its devices shipped into the U.S. in the June quarter will originate in India and Vietnam.
Good jorb, don (Score:5, Interesting)
Won't it be ironic if the US president kills the most valuable US business?
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Won't it be ironic if the US president kills the most valuable US business?
Apple has significantly increased its Indian manufacturing footprint, assembling $22 billion worth of iPhones in India during the 12 months through March..
One does not pull $22 billion worth of manufactured goods out of ones ass overnight. Or since Inauguration Day, 2025. Not a damn thing DJT has ever said or done, created Apple manufacturing in India. Which has clearly been going on for a while.
Wouldn’t it be ironic if the country that practically invented clickbait bullshit, decided to start remembering what is actually valuable instead of perpetuating clickbait bullshit?
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So what is actually valuable in your esteemed opinion?
Obviously what is actually valuable to Apple is to be able to produce its trinkets where the costs are minimal and the output quantities can satisfy their market demand.
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Only China then.
That's what Tim Cook said himself a while ago. Has anything changed since then to change his opinion, what do you think?
Re:Good jorb, don (Score:5, Informative)
Only China then.
A little bit in India is so they can be legally sold in India.
Way to tell everyone you're not paying attention. Apple didn't promote manufacturing in India to sell devices in India. Foxconn opened factories in India *because they are a low cost country while prices in China are rising*, and Apple moved some production to India. Indian never banned iPhones unless they were made in India. India banned *USED / Refurbished* iPhones from being sold in India. India proposed banning iPhones which do not ship with the "Do Not Disturb" app, something that Apple capitulated about in 2019.
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Only China then.
A little bit in India is so they can be legally sold in India.
Way to tell everyone you're not paying attention. Apple didn't promote manufacturing in India to sell devices in India. Foxconn opened factories in India *because they are a low cost country while prices in China are rising*, and Apple moved some production to India. Indian never banned iPhones unless they were made in India. India banned *USED / Refurbished* iPhones from being sold in India. India proposed banning iPhones which do not ship with the "Do Not Disturb" app, something that Apple capitulated about in 2019.
This, even China is outsourcing these days due to the rising cost of manufacturing in China. This is something that a lot of western economists have predicted, a rising middle class in the middle kingdom. There's a reason that China has been spending money on Africa, it's a source of cheap labour (and not one they are potentially going to war with).
Also China is starting to pay attention to human rights. The rising middle class demands it and the government which prides itself on it's revolutionary begin
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Let me preface this by saying there is no way Apple with get killed by this.
Guess when these decisions happened and who was president then: https://www.reuters.com/articl... [reuters.com]
And now again Apple is expanding in India with Donnie boy being president again.
Actually, yeah he kind of did. By setting off a trade war wit
Good jorb, MAGA (Score:1, Insightful)
Silly Americans with Main Character Syndrome.
India is not an NPC.
India is quite capable of making its own laws to require Apple to move manufacturing to India.
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Indeed, India has been, and still is mostly, very protectionist.
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Well that's the typical unintended consequences. Placing punitive tariffs on china was never going to force manufacturing back to the US, it was only ever going to bump it to the next cheapest country.
You'd need to have punitive tariffs on *ALL* countries where manufacturing is significantly cheaper than the US.
And even if final manufacturing takes place in the US, many of the parts still come from other countries so you'd have not only the higher assembly costs but you'd also still be hit with tariffs on t
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Let's look at la Presidenta's record of running a successful business. Squat. He is good at running fraudulent businesses (see the NY State court case or his "University"). There's only the faintest of fuzzy chances his latest "scheme" to bring manufacturing "back" to America will work.
First, components get sourced from all over, attempting to make them all the U.S. is just plain silly.
Second, any manufacturing "brought" back will be so automated that the number of jobs it creates is minimal. That means the
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Yes, there's lots of flaws in the current approach, but that wasn't my point.
The point is the *goal* is a valid one, the method of achieving it doesn't look too good but there also don't seem to be any better options on the table.
If you keep outsourcing everything to cheaper places then eventually there will be no jobs in the US, and people simply won't be able to afford the resulting products. Then it doesn't matter how cheap the manufacturing is, you can't sell. The economy will collapse, and this would l
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No, the reason why there will be no jobs in the US eventually is that the upper class has become increasingly effective at waging class warfare against the middle and lower classes, who have become increasingly ineffective at fighting back. The rich will always find a way to squeeze profit out of those who are less well-off.
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All these tarifs are are stock market manipulation tools.
He's getting a kick about being able to jerk the stock markets around while he and his cronies inside trade.
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The thing with those tariffs and the imbalance of trade is it NEVER FACTORS IN SERVICE. And guess what, the US is predominantly a service economy. That's what Google, Amazon, Microsoft, etc. are. If you take service into account, the US exports more than it imports with many countries. Why would I want to repatriate all the manufacturing jobs, when instead I can create software or be in professional servic
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You’ve heard the term reciprocal used relentlessly. That is not the language of warmongerers.
Oh for sure, throughout history no wars have ever, ever been premised on "they started it"
Tell me again how the status quo was working so well for American exports
USA exports in goods and services 2024 were over $3T, a record year. What should the amount of exports be in your opinion (and you need to justify it)?
I'm not even saying you're wrong but explain yourself.
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Unless, of course, you're giving $400,000,000 of airplane as a bribe to Trump.
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> Unless, of course, you're giving $400,000,000 of airplane as a bribe to Trump.
Look up who funded 9/11. Yeah, the Saudis did the passports and apartments but where did the money come from?
Trump is investigating some folks.
It is ironic how the first time US receives foreign military aid since Lafayette everybody freaks out but they write such checks all day long.
Re:Good jorb, don (Score:4, Insightful)
The funniest thing is all the MAGA whining about everything being communist, until the 34 time felon starts giving companies direct orders with the threat of retaliation if they don't comply.
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Conservatism is not about "sharing", it is about keeping what's yours and getting more, never mind the direct or the opportunity costs. Therefore this isn't technically "Communism", it is its antithesis, the plain old fascism. Or, as the popular slogan once said, "In a Capitalist society, a man is exploited by his fellow man. In a Communist society, it is the other way around".
But I have a question - are the conservative MAGATs so different from their previous incarnations as teabaggers, neocons, reaganites
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> Conservatism is not about "sharing", it is about keeping what's yours and getting more, never mind the direct or the opportunity costs.
You're calling Apple 'conservative' for not sharing profits with the workers in the country where they have the most direct employees?
Nobody thinks Apple is Conservative, except for that white 'power' logo they blazed for a couple decades.
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Please, I'm calling Apple - Apple.
They may not be sharing taxes, but they sure share shareholder value, no?
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Didn't you hear? The President has a pen, and he has a phone.
Oh, right, you think it's (D)ifferent when the first president orders the assassination of an American citizen via drone strike. But where is the threat of retaliation in the Apple case? I don't see it.
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"Direct Orders"? Really? And where is the "Threat of retaliation"?
"I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday," Trump said during his state visit to Qatar, referring to the Apple chief executive. "He is building all over India. I don't want you building in India. India can take care of itself."
Seems a lot more like a request, perhaps, to build devices in US instead of India, but, because the quote stops short we can't be sure...
Oh wait, look - TechCrunch has the full statement:
Speaking at a business summit in Doha, Trump said he met with Cook and asked him to stop building in India and instead increase production in the United States.
Source: Trump tells Apple’s CEO to stop expanding iPhone production in India [techcrunch.com]
Imagine, a sitting US President wanting a major US company to expand DOMESTIC PRODUCTION (that means US production) not foreign (in India).
I myself am SHOCKED to think that some
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That doesn't make as much of a difference as you seem to think. It still appears that Trump thinks he can order people to move manufacturing to the United States without providing incentives to help offset the cost of building factories and training workers.
It also still appears that the goal is to take America back to the mid-1800's, which was not a good time for the average person.
Not that Trump or his acolytes particularly care about the average person.
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The funniest thing is all the MAGA whining about everything being communist, until the 34 time felon starts giving companies direct orders with the threat of retaliation if they don't comply.
As much as your point is valid, that is not strictly communism, its a symptom of totalitarianism which doesn't have a left or right wing bend. The far right has a history of totalitarianism, we called that philosophy "fascism" (see also: theocracy).
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Won't it be ironic if the US president kills the most valuable US business?
Trump just want a bigger bribe.
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This is a question for Cook, try the next call. IIRC, India's iphone business output was supposed to be sold mostly in the Indian market, the tariffs have obviously forced Cook to reconsider and expand the scope of the operation somewhat.
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> Won't it be ironic if the US president kills the most valuable US business?
Isn't Apple an Irish business with an R&D center in California now?
They hardly pay any US corporate taxes.
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Didn't the previous Rump administration "fix" that? I have some vague memory it did... Ah, here:
https://money.cnn.com/2017/12/... [cnn.com]
So, I'm sure they are now a full US company, paying taxen, building fabriken and all that...
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Won't it be ironic if the US president kills the most valuable US business?
No. It would be just one more sign that he did what he was paid to do.
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I'm just trying to imagine Tim's reaction when he first gets the news.
"He said WHAT?!!"
"Small government" indeed. (Score:5, Interesting)
"He is building all over India. I don't want you building in India."
Interesting. Imagine the uproar of a Democrat President tried to dictate to private businesses who they could partner with for manufacturing.
Re:"Small government" indeed. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:"Small government" indeed. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Pot, Kettle, Black (Score:5, Insightful)
Why is Trump telling Apple to bot use overseas labor when Trump is the guy who has all his merch made in China? If I didn't know any better (and I don't) then I would say he's a massive hypocrite (because he is).
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Even he will probably have to move his merch production to some other country besides China, depending on the conclusion of the tariff tiff. Meanwhile, you're asking the wrong question.
Why is Trump warning Apple not to use India, without mentioning any other country that they use (such as Vietnam)? Is he expecting India to be embroiled in a protracted war with Pakistan?
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He's not a hypocrite, he just likes RUMP.
https://www.kwtx.com/2025/05/1... [kwtx.com]
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1) IIRC, Apple didn't pay the inauguration-party 'donation': Time for increasing threats until they pay.
2) Trump needs to keep Fox News distracted, since they've started admitting more and more truths.
3) MAGA needs to be reminded that he's bringing jobs to the USA, so time to pretend he is 'making' jobs.
Economic illiterate (Score:4, Interesting)
For US citizens to pay more for their Apple tech than any other country in the world?
For Apple to charge the same but make no profit and go out of business?
To cut all US worker protections and turn the country into a 3rd world country paying workers $3 an hour?
One or more of these things will happen if companies like Apple are forced to manufacture in the USA. I do happen to agree that western countries have become too reliant on low cost Asian manufacturing, but Trump just has no idea how to solve that. You don't act like some kind of god, that when you decry it, it happens. It requires a well thought out plan that identifies key areas that can be re-developed in the USA. Trump will tank the US economy on his crusade.
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Apple products are so expensive that going from $3/hr to $30/hr wouldn't move the peg much. Also there are still places in the US paying $15-$20 for low level manufacturing/warehouse work. Chamber of Commerce types love that shit. Competitive wages!
Re: Economic illiterate (Score:2)
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How many man hours do you think it takes to produce an iPhone, not counting costs folded into BoM or design/r&d? Or to be more clear, what's the current labor cost associated with producing a new iPhone 17 pro max in India?
Re: Economic illiterate (Score:1)
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So?
What if that difference is $5 because it's only 6 min an iPhone?
It's not just the labor cost that matters, but how much time is involved.
Re: Economic illiterate (Score:2)
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On top of all that, in a developed country like the US, there will be expensive HR staff, Health & Safe
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On top of all that, in a developed country like the US,
...is rapidly moving away from being...
there will be expensive HR staff, Health & Safety, Lawyers. All of these
...are going away as they strip worker protections
Re: Economic illiterate (Score:2)
One thing to remember is even if the wage paid is $15/hr in the US any full time employment comes with a host of other taxes and obligations that are invisible to the employee but real to the company. When I've been involved in hiring the rule of thumb I was given was take the base salary and assume total cost to the company is 150% to 200% of that.
It's one of the reasons gig work is pushed so hard, you can circumvent a lot of that and push it back on the employee.
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>To cut all US worker protections and turn the country into a 3rd world country paying workers $3 an hour?
Those all fall into that nasty no-good category of "Regulations". Which are bad. Totally bad and disgusting. Why would you want any of *those* hanging around impeding profits?
No, best to get rid of those forthwith.
Uncertainty (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Uncertainty (Score:3)
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On Slashdot you use preview, and proofread before clicking Submit... or you take your chances.
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Tramp is communist. (Score:1)
Re: Tramp is communist. (Score:2)
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Conservatives do NOT believe in free markets, they believe in unregulated capitalism. Those are NOT the same, free markets require regulation to exist. Republicans have been dismantling that regulation since Reagan, that's why we are fucked.
But yes, money makes people think they are smart yet rich people are not smarter than poor people.
Re:Tramp is communist. (Score:5, Informative)
No, he's an authoritarian with fascist leanings. Authoritarians and fascists have never had any hesitation in ordering companies to do things.
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He is a fascist, not a communist. Trump wants to be the god-emperor of the USA and expects everyone to bow down and worship him.
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First paragraph of fascism on Wikipedia: Fascism (/fæzm/ FASH-iz-m) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived interest of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.
Don't confuse authoritarian com
The Little People (Score:2)
Trump Tells Apple CEO To Avoid Manufacturing in India.
I just had a meeting, with Tim Apple, and we're going to bring back jobs, lots of jobs, screwing those little screws into iPhones, a bigly beautiful flood of minimum wage jobs, y'know, for the little people - that kind of thing is going to come to America now, lots of it, more of it than anything else ever, in history. Then, when the little people have screwed screws into iPhones for 12 hours, they can take a night shift at McDonalds and then work all weekend at Chick-Fil-A just to put food on the table. It
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work all weekend at Chick-Fil-A
Tell us you're a foreign troll without saying it directly.
Re: The Little People (Score:2)
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I'll tell you what. Why don't you go to your neighborhood Chick-fil-A this Sunday and ask the people there whether they want to work, or like working, all weekend for the company?
Re: The Little People (Score:2, Troll)
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Clearly not, which is precisely why I suggested what I did. So why did you feel compelled to jump in, much less double down on it?
Re: The Little People (Score:3)
Remind me (Score:4, Insightful)
What is it called when a government dictates to private industry how and where to run its business?
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Lol, so what? (Score:2)
What is he prepared to do about it?
He talks a good game but folds most of the time any pressure is kept up.
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> What is he prepared to do about it?
It ain't right but Apple's App Store monopoly might just get broken up if they insist on moving manufacturing to India.
It's actually interesting because last year they were saying China was the only option because you can get every size screw any time day or night because China was so specialized.
Now India has all that? Nope, it was never true, supply chain logistics are sufficient.
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LOL Trump breaking up a monopoly. And if it's a monopoly, why would it not be right to break it up? Do you not believe in free markets?
"It's actually interesting because last year they were saying China was the only option because you can get every size screw any time day or night because China was so specialized."
Who was saying this? Citation please. Chinese manufacturing is "so specialized"? Because they can manufacture anything?
"Now India has all that? Nope, it was never true, supply chain logistics
Noselength (Score:3)
In Dutch, we have a saying: "He can't see further than his nose". Is he really that stupid? Hard to imagine... Oh well, let him clean up his own mess.
Re: Noselength (Score:1)
isn't this communism? (Score:2)
The political leader dictates what companies should do... seems a bit against the free market economy the West is based on!!
where's SuperKendall? (Score:2, Interesting)
Is there any topic more central to SuperKendall's core identity, yet he's not here to tell us how his favorite company would benefit from his hero president's advice? No dogfooding for Apple, SuperKendall?
The brutal truth (Score:2)
Then MAGAt Maggie and Tommy Trumper can point at that to own the libz.
And will Cook listen to the dumb one? (Score:2)
Hardly. He may fake something for a while, but that is it.
If the Dictator says... (Score:2)
If the Orange Dictator says "don't manufacture in India", you'd better "don't manufacture in India", else said Orange Dictator will get angry and use whatever means he has at his disposal, legal or otherwise, to make life difficult for you. How there isn't uproar, I don't know.
FREE MARKETS!!! (Score:2)
What could be more laissez faire and small govt... (Score:2)
Apple operates at a 250% profit margin (Score:1)