Apple intelligence: Time to step up and speak out

Trump's attempt to stall Apple's iPhone assembly plans for India should worry us only if it succeeds. Can the US really afford to put its famed efficiency of capital allocation at stake?

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don't want you building in India," said US President Donald Trump last week, citing what he told Apple Inc.'s chief Tim Cook, "India can take care of themselves, they are doing very well. We want you to build here." That Trump wants iPhone assembly done in the US made many of us sit up, given the anticipation in India of an influx of this job-creating activity from a barrier-facing China. But it should not raise eyebrows. It's part of Trump's 'America First' agenda. What should worry us are signals that go beyond autarky talk, a language that India has long learnt the uses and limits of. Only if Apple actually does as directed—or nudged, in this case—would it count as such a signal. After all, America's formula for prosperity includes letting free markets direct most flows of capital, instead of a central authority playing this role. As a business that must maximize shareholder value, Apple ought to invest where its market reading leads it to, not by diktat. Should it 'onshore' its iPhone making against its interest, it would expose an irony a