Donald Trump's ‘little problem with Tim Cook’ is a big one for Apple. Here's how

Trump said he had ‘a little problem with Tim Cook,’ and claimed that the had asked the Apple CEO to stop building plants in India

A new announcement by OpenAI on Wednesday added to Apple's struggles with an uncertain business environment, which is widely attributed to US President Donald Trump's repeated calls to shift the iPhone maker's production capacities to the United States.

Apple said on February 24, 2025, it will spend more than $500 billion in the United States over the next four years and hire 20,000 staff, an announcement likely to please President Donald Trump who has pushed US companies to shift manufacturing home. (AFP file)

Apple's shares fell 0.5% on Thursday, on track for their seventh straight negative session after underperforming again on Wednesday. The fall is partly attributed to OpenAI's announcement of its acquisition of a startup focused on artificial intelligence-fueled hardware. The firm was co-founded by Apple veteran Jony Ive.

From being the world's biggest company at the start of May, in terms of market capitalization, Apple fell to third behind Microsoft Corp. and Nvidia Corp, reported Bloomberg.

Threat from fellow AI competitors apart, Trump's repeated calls to shift the company's manufacturing process have added to the political uncertainty among investors, the report said.

Earlier this month, the US president said he “had a little problem with Tim Cook,” and claimed that he had asked the Apple CEO to stop building plants in India.

Over the past five years, India has emerged as one of the biggest manufacturing hubs of Apple iPhones, with the company's assembly lines in the country churning out smartphones worth $22 billion in 12 months last financial year. The US-based company produced 60 per cent more iPhones in India compared to the previous year.

Randy Hare, director of equity research at Huntington National Bank, told Bloomberg that the US president's aim at Apple was a red flag for him. “Trump continues to single out Apple and seems to have something against them. It doesn’t mean that Trump is going to do anything more, but you can’t predict what’s going to happen, and that makes me cautious,” he added.

Apple's fate is also tied to tariff war between the US and China, one of the key production bases and markets for the company. Despite the US and China agreeing to temporarily lower tariffs on each other’s products, the iPhone maker's stock is still up only 16% from the low it hit after the tariffs were first announced in early April.

Lamar Villere, partner and portfolio manager at Villere & Co., does not see the possibility of legislation in the US aimed at furthering Trump's goals.

“It gets a lot of attention from Trump, not all of it good, but I think investors are growing callous to his complaints. It isn’t in any real trouble for not building in the US, and we’re not going to see legislation come out based on anger against one company,” Villere told Bloomberg.

Apple said in February that it will spend more than $500 billion in the United States over the next four years and hire 20,000 staff, an announcement likely to please President Donald Trump, who has pushed US companies to shift manufacturing home.