Tim Cook's tense conversation with the U.S. President: „I don't want you building in India”

Recently, tensions have risen between Apple and the U.S. Government. In a recent talk with investors, initially reported by Xataka, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook confirmed that the company is making moves to lessen its dependence on China. On one hand, perhaps President Trump’s tariffs are having an effect, forcing a major tech company to move some of its production out of China. But it’s not happening in exactly the way the president intended. The tariffs aim to bring manufacturing back to the U.S., but while Apple leaves the heavily tariffed China, they plan to move to India.

President Trump tells Apple’s Tim Cook, “I don’t want you building in India.”

At the beginning of April, the U.S. Government imposed tariffs on dozens of countries around the world. The U.S.’s rival, China, was hit with higher tariffs than anywhere else, but the sweeping tariffs were enough to send the global economy into a tailspin. This even caused Nintendo to delay pre-orders of the Switch 2 in the U.S. and Canada while they assess global market changes. Shortly after the introduction of tariffs, however, President Trump agreed to back off, introducing a 90-day pause that is still in effect today.

Tim Cook, along with many other tech company CEOs and business leaders, controversially attended President Trump's inauguration in January and personally donated $1 million to the new president’s inauguration fund. The goal appears to have been to get on the new president’s good side and avoid government regulation. Unfortunately for the major tech company, this hasn’t helped them avoid scrutiny over their plans in India.

Bloomberg posted a YouTube video of the president’s remarks recently in Qatar, explaining his conversation with Cook. Reportedly, the president “had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday…” and told the tech CEO, “I don’t want you building in India.” This reportedly led to Apple “upping their production in the United States.”

In February, Apple announced that it would spend more than $500 billion in the U.S. over the next four years, including plans for a factory in Texas, a manufacturing academy, and “accelerated investments in AI and silicon engineering.” It’s unclear if this investment will increase due to the conversation with the president. For now, we will have to see how Apple responds and how this will affect their ongoing investments in India and the U.S.

• Apple
• Tim Cook