- Thursday, May 15, 2025
New Delhi is seeking to clinch a trade deal with the US within the 90-day pause announced by Trump on April 9 on tariff hikes for major trading partners
By: India Weekly
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump said on Thursday that India had offered a trade deal that proposed “no tariffs” for American goods, while expressing his dissatisfaction with Apple’s plans to invest in India.
New Delhi is seeking to clinch a trade deal with the US within the 90-day pause announced by Trump on April 9 on tariff hikes for major trading partners.
“It is very hard to sell in India, and they are offering us a deal where basically they are willing to literally charge us no tariffs,” Trump said in a meeting with executives in the Qatari capital Doha.
Reuters has reported that New Delhi has offered to reduce duties to zero on 60 per cent of tariff lines in a first phase of the deal under negotiation with Washington, while offering preferential access to nearly 90 per cent of the merchandise India imports from the US.
BIGGEST BREAKING 🚨
Modi’s friend Donald Trump said he told Apple CEO Tim Cook not to build in India
“I have told Cook that i have problems with you if you manufacture in India”
Will Narendra Modi dare call it out to take a stand for India??
Don’t forget that Mukesh Ambani… pic.twitter.com/TT9tiHRWBz
— Amock_ (@Amockx2022) May 15, 2025
Trump has told Apple CEO Tim Cook that he does not want him “building in India” as they can take care of themselves.
“I said to him, my friend, I am treating you very good. You are coming up with $500 billion, but now I hear you are 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 because India is one of the highest tariff nations in the world, so it is very hard to sell in India,” Trump said.
Trump said that Apple is set to expand its production in the US.
His remarks come at a time when Apple is reportedly planning to ramp up its assembly of iPhones in India to become the main supplier for the US market.
The technology giant is holding talks with its contract manufacturers in India, Foxconn and Tata, to more than double their existing capacities and set an ambitious goal to accomplish this by the end of 2026.
The iPhone maker follows a complex manufacturing process involving more than 1,000 components sourced from all over the world.
Donald Trump’s announcement of aggressive tariff policies had affected Apple hard as it does not have a manufacturing presence in the US and its contract manufacturers are based out of China, Vietnam and India.
Apple shares took a massive hit when the reciprocal tariffs were announced on April 2.
However, the subsequent decision by the White House to exclude smartphones from the heaviest Chinese tariffs, did provide some relief.
Apple had stepped up production in India to beat Trump’s reciprocal tariffs deadline, shipping some 600 tons of iPhones worth $2 billion to the US in March.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Thursday (15) said that trade talks between India and the United States are ongoing, and cautioned against premature judgements.
He emphasized that any trade deal must be mutually beneficial and work for both countries.
“On the trade remarks. Let me say this that look between India and US trade talks have been going on, negotiations have been going on. In fact, we have, I think our team is just going at this point. These are very complicated negotiations. They are very intricate,” he said.
“Nothing is decided, you know. But any trade deal, any trade deal has to be mutually beneficial,” he said.
India is currently holding talks for finalizing a trade deal with the United States and commerce minister Piyush Goyal is in the US for the negotiations.
The Congress on Thursday (15) questioned prime minister Narendra Modi’s silence on Trump’s remarks in Doha, where he claimed that India has agreed to “zero tariffs” on several American goods as against its “highest” tariffs, asking what linkage does it have with the stopping of Operation Sindoor.
“The Commerce Minister is in Washington DC and President Trump has made yet another grand announcement from Doha. There is total chuppi (silence) from our PM. What has he agreed to and what linkage is there between this and the stoppage of Operation Sindoor?” AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh asked in a post on X.
He also tagged a report quoting Trump that India has offered “zero tariffs” on several American goods as part of its trade deal with the United States.
