AAPL's 'Come to India' Moment is Here (And Trump is Pissed)

India is having a moment — and not the kind you blink and miss. 

It’s the kind of moment that builds empires, shifts the balance of global power, and fattens the portfolios of investors who have the foresight to recognize a secular economic transition when they see it. 

Now, the headlines are starting to catch up to what we’ve been talking about all along, that India is bursting into the global spotlight. It’s becoming more obvious than ever, too. 

This isn't just a pivot, it's a tectonic shift.

Don’t believe me? Well, look no further than the third-largest publicly traded company on the planet. 

Boasting a market cap around $2.9 trillion, Apple was the poster child for Chinese manufacturing dominance. 

Apple first started shifting its manufacturing process over to China in 2001 by partnering with Foxconn to pump out its iPods — the old heads in our investment community fondly remember those days when we used ancient tech to listen to music. 

As Apple’s list of products grew, and demand for things like the iPhone surged, so did the need for Foxconn’s manufacturing capabilities. 

That’s how China entered the picture and became a major hub for manufactures like Apple for the next two decades; companies just couldn’t say no to easy access to raw materials, as well as a massive pool of cheap skilled labor to pump out their products. 

It was a love affair that was doomed to fail eventually, and the current on and off again trade war between China and the United States should be enough to spoil the future of Apple’s exodus from The Middle Kingdom. 

Tim Cook can thank President Trump for that breakup. 

However, most people probably didn’t think Apple would move on so quickly with somebody else — it’s all but official now. 

If you don’t see it yet, just take a closer look at Apple’s suppliers. 

Last week, Foxconn disclosed that it was moving forward with plans to build a $1.5 billion plant in India. 

“Why India?” you ask? Well, in order to answer that, just think of which countries can fulfil Apple’s needs with the least disruption. 

The easiest one to recognize is that India isn’t locked in a heated trade war with President Trump, who has had a tendency to wield tariffs as a weapon with a simple flick off the wrist. Of course, that’s not to mention the fact that India is one of the few countries in the world that can compete against China when it comes to having a massive skilled work force at low costs — India is currently the most populated country in the world with 1.46 billion people. 

The shift is happening quickly, too. As it stands now, India accounts for 20% of Apple’s global iPhone production, and that number is expected to continue growing over the next few years. 

Unfortunately for Tim Cook and friends, President Trump is now pissed. Even after Apple’s announcement that it was investing half a billion dollars into the U.S. over the next four years, President Trump is ready to levy a 25% tariff of non-U.S. made iPhones.

The problem is that this won’t be enough to sway Apple’s migration into India. You see, this exodus out of China didn’t suddenly begin overnight. Apple has been planning and executing this move for years.

However, it’s not Trump’s tariffs that will be the biggest hurdle for Apple’s ultimate success in India. 

Later this week, we’re going to look at another crisis developing that could bring the entire operation to a screaming halt. 

Stay tuned.