Donald Trump doesn't want Apple to "Make in India"

Exactly. It's already cheaper to manufacture iPhones in India and that is why Tim Cook may persist with the original policy. It remains to be seen if he buckles down under the pressure of Donald Trump.

@porwest I think it costs $580 to make an iPhone in China. Here in India, it costs about ?41,000, which is about $478.11. Anyway, I'm hearing about thy Nike football example for the first time. So, I've no idea about this. I'm not much into football, probably that's why I didn't ever worry about it. Well yes, every business wants to have higher profits whatever the input cost may be. At times the input cost can vary. And even companies have to depend on other smaller companies for raw material and spare parts. That's why the input can be volatile. But the mega companies are free to determine the selling cost according to their profit margins. They can offer discounts too to attract more customers. Also state-wise here the cost of our daily needs items can vary depending on the state taxes. That's why a particular company can attract more profit from a certain location or may have to cut down on their profits and sell the same product at a discounted price maybe in some other location.

At the same time, consider it costs Apple roughly $580 to make an iPhone in India. The average selling price is over $1000. Now, I have no idea how much additional cost would be added to production if they were made in the United States, but there's still a potential profit of $500+ on every phone they sell. Granted, this is simplified. There are other costs of doing business to consider. But take Nike. It sources manufacturing overseas and it costs around $4 to make a soccer ball. Yet they sell them for around $60. WOULD things cost more or would the companies just have to make less? It's something to think about. Are we REALLY seeing a cost savings or are the companies simply seeing higher profits? I am not sure all of the cost savings are being passed along to us when all is said and done. BUT, you have to give them credit for convincing us all of this is true while we are resigned to work at Walmart and Burger King. I am not going to call the businesses greedy. You get what the market is willing to bear and you keep your costs down as low as you can and your profits as high as you can. That's just good business. But to suggest a business CAN'T afford to produce things in the United States and still make a good margin, to me, is quite a bit smoke and mirrors. Okay, so Nike adds U.S. production and a $4 cost becomes a $30 cost. But they can still sell the soccer ball at a $30 markup. Make 25% here and the other 75% overseas to offset some of the cost additions, but it's still pretty damn profitable for them to sell a soccer ball one way or the other.

Do friends take advantage of each other? Or does the friendship help each other - be it between countries or individuals. The same logic applies, I feel. And if it's the question of taking "advantage" then I think, that shouldn't be called "friendship". For outsiders like me, or at least talking about me, I have always felt that the US is a fairyland. There is everything that is positive, good and that is one place where nothing can go wrong. But as I grew up and started reading more and more about the US and the current scenario it looks like it is just not this same picture that I had visualised. If I am not wrong, unemployment is a growing concern for the US Administration. There may be fast food jobs, etc but they are low paying as you say. What do you think about the turnaround for a developed country like US?

@porwest The US is like an elderly brother - world-wise. I mean like a father or an elderly brother looks after the happenings in the house the - the US does the same thing in the world. Like, if there is a conflict between any countries, or if any country needs their help they do come forward. And this has become the identity of the US that they role they play in this world is to make things better and the lives of the people the world over runs smoothly. I have never found anyone with whom I can discuss a few things. So please take my views only in the sense of discussion. I am neither getting personal, nor pointing fingers at the US. It's just that I am more curious to talk about a few things that I will be mentioning now. The first thing is that I am not sure about how you are saying that the US has been screwed. Because what I know is that if two countries trade in the USD, it's the US that gets benefited. This is called "Seigniorage". Please correct me if I am wrong. From what I read, the number of unemployed people grew up by 82,000 making it 7.165 million. Though, employment grew by 436,000 and stands at 163.94 million. I have never talked about such topics in my life in the past So I hope I'm going correctly.

@abhi_bangal How we got screwed, simply put, is that the United States allowed India to import duty free while they charged us duties to export to them. That's not really a fair deal. That being said, India has MOSTLY been a good partner, but it's not been without some push and pull, as is the case with most countries. The United States set up these parameters decades ago, wanting cheaper labor, and feeling that the world benefits if it has a better chance to prosper economically, especially when it has access to the largest economy and consumer base in the world. What happened is that we lost valuable jobs in the process, and so there's been an imbalance between cheaper goods and the trade off, which were lower paying jobs. When this global trade really took off, cheaper goods were a benefit because we had higher wages AND cheaper stuff, so our spent dollars could go farther. Over the years, we now have lower wages and cheaper goods are more of a necessity than a benefit. That's not a very good tradeoff. The tariffs are a way to encourage a country like India to put at least SOME factories in the United States so that both Indians and Americans can reap some reward from the business that is being conducted. We've put some of our factories and businesses there to employ Indians. Why not return the favor?

Well yes China does have tariffs. But those are for exports for as I know. Please enlighted me if I am wrong. But for iPhones I don't think they might increase the tariff because lately I haven't heard that iPhones are also included in the increased tariff from the US to China.

Talking about your second paragraph, if that had been so easy, we all would have lesser headache today. Let alone us, there are citizens in the US who also don't want him donning that post. But he being a businessman has more to contribute. Coming to your first paragraph yes there policies of companies to get done more out of less. India being a huge country with such a huge amount of manpower can easily be the target of companies to get there products manufactured here. The exchange rates may fluctuate to an extent. But generally speaking the cheap rate that mega companies like Apple get, make them more prone to manufacturing products in India.

I also feel that Tim Cook. And I am inclined towards saying Tim Cook as well. Definitely as the head of a company be it Apple or any company for that matter, the CEO or any other responsible high postholder, (or even employees), will obviously think that his company should be profitable. And he will do business accordingly. But only other hand, I think Donald Trump isn't wrong either. He wants employment for his citizens and his point of view may not be wrong. He has been a businessman after all. I am just putting up both the sides.