The Curious Case of Missing US CEOs

With the exception of Tim Cook who has succeeded in balancing nationalism with globalism, American CEOs have been missing from the Indo-US diplomatic stage

- RISHI RAJ

In May, Tim Cook made what seemed like a logical statement for any CEO to make, saying that in the quarter ending June, most iPhones sold in the US would be made in India. It made commercial sense because of the ongoing tariff tensions between the US and China.

However, the statement didn't go down well with US President Donald Trump, who issued a blunt public rebuke during his state visit to Qatar. He made it clear that while he welcomed India making iPhones for its own market, he didn't want US-bound production taking place outside America. "I said to him, Tim, you're my friend, I treated you very good...I don't want you building in India" unless it's to supply the Indian market, Trump said, adding that Apple would be "upping their production in the US" following their conversation.

When the June quarter numbers were reported, Cook's forecast proved right. India had indeed become the top exporter of smartphones to the US, accounting for 44% of imports in the segment.

For Cook, this wasn't just a supply-chain success story. Rather, it was a diplomatic tightrope walk. On the one side was Apple's growing Indian production base, built over the last five years with the help of the government's production-linked incentive scheme and integral to the company's de-risking from China. On the other was the leader of his home market signaling that unless Apple visibly expanded US manufacturing, he could unleash tariffs on the semiconductors and components that Apple's products rely on.