By Aditya Kalra and Munsif Vengattil

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Nearly all the iPhones exported by Foxconn from India went to the United States between March and May, customs data showed, far above the 2024 average of 50% and a clear sign of Apple's ( AAPL ) efforts to bypass high U.S. tariffs imposed on China.

The numbers, being reported by Reuters for the first time, show Apple ( AAPL ) has realigned its India exports to almost exclusively serve the U.S. market, when previously the devices were more widely distributed to countries including the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Britain.

During March-May, Foxconn exported iPhones worth $3.2 billion from India, with an average 97% shipped to the United States, compared to a 2024 average of 50.3%, according to commercially available customs data seen by Reuters.

India iPhone shipments by Foxconn to the United States in May 2025 were worth nearly $1 billion, the second-highest ever after the record $1.3 billion worth of devices shipped in March, the data showed.

Apple ( AAPL ) and Foxconn did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said China will face 55% tariffs after the two countries agreed on a plan, subject to both leaders' approval, to ease levies that had reached triple digits.

India is subject, like most U.S trading partners, to a baseline 10% tariff and is trying to negotiate an agreement to avert a 26% "reciprocal" levy that Trump announced and then paused in April.

Apple's ( AAPL ) increased production in India drew a strong rebuke from Trump in May. "We are not interested in you building in India, India can take care of themselves, they are doing very well, we want you to build here," Trump recalled telling CEO Tim Cook.

In the first five months of this year, Foxconn has already sent iPhones worth $4.4 billion to the U.S. from India, compared to $3.7 billion in the whole of 2024.

Apple ( AAPL ) has been taking steps to speed up production from India to bypass tariffs, which would make phones shipped from China to the U.S. much more expensive. In March, it chartered planes to transport iPhone 13, 14, 16 and 16e models worth roughly $2 billion to the United States.

Apple ( AAPL ) has also lobbied Indian airport authorities to cut the time needed to clear customs at Chennai airport in the southern state of Tamil Nadu from 30 hours to six hours, Reuters has reported. The airport is a key hub for iPhone exports.

"We expect made-in-India iPhones to account for 25% to 30% of global iPhone shipments in 2025, as compared to 18% in 2024," said Prachir Singh, senior analyst at Counterpoint Research.

Tata Electronics, the other smaller Apple ( AAPL ) iPhone supplier in India, on average shipped nearly 86% of its iPhone production to the U.S. during March and April, customs data showed. Its May data was not available.

The company, part of India's Tata Group, started exporting iPhones only in July 2024, and only 52% of its shipments went to U.S. during 2024, the data showed.

Tata declined to comment on the numbers.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has in recent years promoted India as a smartphone manufacturing hub, but high duties on importing mobile phone components compared to many other countries means it is still expensive to produce the devices in India.

Apple ( AAPL ) has historically sold more than 60 million iPhones in the U.S. each year, with roughly 80% made in China.