It was reported that United States President Trump, reiterating his “United States priority” policy, was pressuring companies that depended on overseas manufactures, such as apples, to impose an import tariff of 25 per cent if apples continued to produce iPhone outside the United States.
As a profit-seeking enterprise, apples maximize profits by outsourcing iPhone to production outside the United States, where about 90 per cent of the iPhone production is currently dependent on the Chinese supply chain, mainly by Fuscon and Sukaku factories. However, this approach is causing serious concern, as Trump stressed in social media that “Fushcon has made too much money in China” and threatens to impose a 25 per cent tariff on apples if they do not move production to the United States.
This directly impacted on the “Indian manufacturing” strategy announced last month by the CEO Tim Cook, causing a capital market shock and a 3 per cent drop in the price of the apple stock before the five-drive deal. In April 2025, Cook publicly stated that India would take over 60 million iPhone annual production assignments on the United States market. Fuscon then announced an additional $1.5 billion investment in Indian factories, which is planned to be achieved by 2026.
Following Cook’s announcement of India’s production plan, Trump warned through the Truth Social platform: “I already told Tim Cook that iPhone, which sells apples in the United States, had to be made in the United States, not in India or elsewhere. Otherwise, apples must pay at least 25 per cent of the tariffs to the United States.” The issue was also highlighted by Trump during the Middle East visit, which stated that “there was a slight contradiction yesterday with Tim Cook” and that “he is building a factory in various parts of India”.
The analyst noted that the complex design of the new iPhone still relied heavily on technological accumulation in China ‘ s supply chain. Despite the accelerated expansion of Fuscon, Indian factories currently have a positive rate of 78 per cent, well below 95 per cent of Chinese plants. Moreover, supply chain experts believe that it takes more than five years for apples to move completely to the United States, involving equipment, worker training and logistics reconstruction at a cost of billions of dollars.
If tariffs are applied, iPhone prices may increase by 10-20 per cent, or apples absorb part of the costs and reduce the profit margin. Trump ‘ s tariff threat has led to a 3 per cent drop in the pre-friday trading of apples, and it is unclear how apples will adjust their production strategies.