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Updated April 7, 2025 5:31 pm ET

Workers assembling components on a factory assembly line.

Workers at a factory in China operated by Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn. Photo: VCG/Getty Images

Apple AAPL -3.67%decrease; red down pointing triangle plans to send more iPhones to the U.S. from India to offset the high cost of China tariffs, people familiar with the matter said.

The adjustments are a short-term stopgap while Apple attempts to win an exemption from President Trump’s tariffs—which Chief Executive Tim Cook obtained during the first Trump administration. The company sees the current situation as too uncertain to upend long-term investments in its supply chain, which is centered around China, the people said.

Trump’s new tariff package raises levies on Chinese goods to at least 54% while imposing a 26% rate on Indian goods. On Monday, Trump threatened to add to China tariffs if the country doesn’t remove the retaliatory duties they announced after U.S. tariff plans were revealed on April 2.

The iPhone is Apple’s signature product and makes up about 50% of its revenue. The company’s heavy reliance on China for manufacturing has spooked investors concerned about its exposure to tariffs, leading to a 19% decline in its shares, their worst three-day performance in nearly 25 years.

Before tariffs were announced, Apple was on pace to make about 25 million iPhones in India this year, said Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan. Normally, around 10 million of those would supply the local Indian market. If Apple were to redirect all India-made iPhones to the U.S., it could meet about 50% of American demand for the device this year, he said. Apple has been working to increase its India iPhone production for years.

Workers leaving a Wistron iPhone factory gate in India.

A Taiwanese-run iPhone factory in southern India. Photo: Manjunath Kiran/AFP/Getty Images

The tariff on Chinese goods could add about $300 to the current $550 hardware cost to Apple of an iPhone 16 Pro that currently retails for $1,100, according to TechInsights. Apple could limit the damage by importing phones from India where the tariff is about half as high.

While Trump has called for a manufacturing renaissance in the U.S., analysts and suppliers said moving iPhone production to Apple’s home country was a nonstarter because the cost would be far beyond the cost of paying the tariff.

“If consumers want a $3,500 iPhone we should make them in New Jersey or Texas or another state,” research firm Wedbush said in a recent note.

Apple makes many iPhone components in China but in recent years has assembled more of the devices in India. That allows the company to stamp India as the country of origin for those devices because they undergo “substantial transformation” there—from a pile of parts to a functioning smartphone.

Checkbox — President Trump skipped the normal months-long process to impose tariffs and instead used a 1970s law to bypass them. WSJ’s Gavin Bade explains what that means legally and what Congress might do about it. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Since 2017, Apple has worked with partners to assemble iPhones in India, starting with older models and gradually expanding to include the latest ones. The policy both addresses China risk and avoids import tariffs when selling in India, one of the world’s fastest-growing smartphone markets.

Yet the company’s production is still centered in China. Its manufacturing partners such as Foxconn operate huge facilities there, taking advantage of the country’s deep network of suppliers, skilled labor and government support.

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Apple is investing in making other products in the U.S., including the servers needed for artificial intelligence such as the Apple Intelligence service.

In February, Apple said it planned to spend more than $500 billion over the next four years in U.S. manufacturing—an announcement touted by Trump as evidence his policies were working. The money includes committing to buy more advanced chips made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in Arizona.

Vietnam, which has become a hub for making AirPods, the Apple Watch and iPads, received a tariff of 46% under Trump’s plan, nearly as high as China’s. But Trump suggested in a social-media post Friday after speaking to Vietnam’s leader that he might offer a better deal.

Write to Yang Jie at jie.yang@wsj.com and Rolfe Winkler at Rolfe.Winkler@wsj.com