During this month's earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook talked about how most of the iPhones sold in the US are being built in India, which, considering the lower US tariffs on that country, may have protected the popular handset from a price jump here in the US. It sounded, in a way, like, between the Trump Administration giving Apple a pass on current tariffs, the steady shift of manufacturing away from China to India and Vietnam, and the promise to invest $500 billion in US manufacturing for chips and servers, Apple was on the right side of the US vs. the World trade war.
Not so fast. President Donald Trump told reporters on Thursday that he "had a little problem with Tim Cook," and in fact does not want him to build iPhones in India. According to CNBC, Trump recalled, "I said to him, ‘my friend, I treated you very good. You’re coming here with $500 billion, but now I hear you’re building all over India.’ I don’t want you building in India,” adding later, "...we want you to build here."
