Trump threatens Apple with 25% tariff if iPhones not made in US

ISTANBUL

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Apple will have to pay 25% tariff if its iPhones are not build and manufactured in the US.

"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," Trump wrote on social media.

"If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the US," he added.

The US president has long been requesting Apple to shift its production back to the US instead of China and India.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said this month that most of its iPhones to be sold in the US in the coming months will come from India and Vietnam, instead of China, which had been the target of Trump's highest tariffs.

Later, Trump said he spoke with Cook and told him not to expand his production facilities in India, but to do so in America.

While the trade war with China escalated, the White House had granted exclusions from tariffs on smartphones and some other electronics imported largely from China.

But earlier this month, the world's top two economies agreed to a sweeping rollback of punitive tariffs for an initial 90-day period, signaling a rare moment of relief in their protracted trade conflict and raising hopes for longer-term economic stability.