Trump Threatens to Slap Apple With 25% Tariff on iPhones Made Abroad

(Giada Papini Rampelotto/EuropaNewswire/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)

President Donald Trump piled more pressure on Apple CEO Tim Cook to scale back the tech giant’s ambitious expansion into India, this time issuing a 25% tariff threat if the company doesn’t move iPhone production to the U.S.

In a Truth Social post on Friday the president took aim at the tech giant:

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 your for your attention to this matter!

The comments come as Apple boosts iPhone manufacturing in India by nearly 60 percent, hitting $22 billion this year. The expansion is part of a broader strategy to reduce Apple’s dependency on China, but has drawn scrutiny from Trump.

The remark comes as a double down after a conversation had between Trump and Cook while the president was in Qatar as part of his Middle East tour.

During a press panel with regional leaders, Trump recounted the fiery call: “I said to him: ‘Tim, you’re my friend. I treated you very good… But now I hear you’re building all over India. I don’t want you building in India. You can build in India if you want to take care of India… We want you to build here.’”

At the time, Trump suggested the CEO gave in to pressure: “They’re going to be upping their production in the United States… So it will be great.”

Apple has not publicly confirmed any new U.S. investment in response to Trump’s intervention. But the president isn’t letting up in his efforts to publicly strong-arm the world’s most valuable company into reshoring jobs.