Former President Donald Trump has nothing however good issues to say about Apple CEO Tim Cook dinner.
In a brand new interview, Trump revealed the 2 spoke on the telephone earlier this week and stated he credit Cook dinner with the tech large’s success.
“I believe that if Tim Cook didn’t run Apple, if Steve Jobs did, it wouldn’t be nearly as successful as it is now,” Trump stated, referencing the Apple founder and former CEO who died in 2011 from most cancers. “I think Tim Cook’s done an amazing job. And I’m not knocking Steve Jobs.”
Trump made the feedback throughout a podcast interview with Patrick Guess-David launched on Thursday. Guess-David requested Trump about his relationship with Cook dinner, when Trump revealed the 2 had spoken simply “two hours” previous to recording.
“Then two hours ago, three hours ago, he called me,” Trump stated throughout his interview. “He said, ‘I’d like to talk to you about something.’ ‘What?’ He said, ‘the European Union has just fined us 15 billion dollars.’ That’s a lot.”
In September a high EU courtroom discovered that Apple owed Eire again taxes price €13 billion, or roughly $14.4 billion. Earlier this 12 months, in March, the EU hit Apple with a $2 billion antitrust tremendous for allegedly throttling rivals to its streaming service Apple Music in its iOS App Retailer.
Trump marveled on the measurement of the fines the EU levied towards Apple, saying they have been “a lot.”
“I even said about Apple, can you pay that? I mean, do you have that kind—That’s a lot of money,” Trump stated.
Trump then drew parallels together with his personal authorized troubles within the U.S., the place he was convicted of 34 felony counts in a single legal case, whereas nonetheless awaiting trial in three others.
“I know the feeling because I get fined, too, and fake cases. But I don’t know if his case is fake yet, but it’s a lot,” Trump stated.
Trump went on to element his relationship with Cook dinner, which he stated had been productive. In 2019, when Trump was within the White Home, he had applied a sequence of tariffs on sure imports from China. Among the many merchandise topic to these tariffs have been sure elements wanted to make Apple merchandise, which Cook dinner had sought a waiver to keep away from. Cook dinner then met with Trump to press his case in particular person. The previous President granted Cook dinner the waiver upon the situation he spend money on U.S. manufacturing for its Mac Professional. In actuality, Apple already made the computer systems in Texas.
Cook dinner would later reward Trump a Mac Professional produced from the Texas manufacturing facility.
Throughout the discussions with Cook dinner, Trump stated he appreciated the Apple CEO’s private involvement within the matter.
“Most companies send in lobbyists that get paid millions and millions of dollars to talk for them,” Trump stated. “And they probably say, ‘We know Trump. We can talk.’ But they don’t. For the most part, they don’t. Tim Cook called me up directly and he did it himself. [He] didn’t have to pay 10 cents. I gave him 100 percent of what he wanted because he was right.”
Cook dinner’s argument concerning the 2019 tariffs, based on Trump, was that they’d make it too troublesome for Apple to compete with Samsung as a result of it didn’t need to import parts from China.
Through the years Trump has all the time spoken fondly of Cook dinner. “Tim Cook calls Donald Trump directly,” Trump stated in August 2019. “That’s why he’s a great executive, because he calls me, and others don’t.”
Throughout the interview with Guess-David Trump recounted how excited he was to obtain a name from Cook dinner again in 2019. “He calls. “Could I see you, sir?” He’s the pinnacle of Apple. And I used to be born in Queens and I stated, ‘Oh, the head of Apple wants to see me. Let’s go.’ Despite the fact that I’m President I used to be born in Queens and the pinnacle of Apple’s calling.”
Trump’s fondness for tariffs have featured closely on the marketing campaign path throughout his third bid for the White Home. They’re now a part of a serious coverage proposal through which Trump goals to stage blanket tariffs of 20% on all imported merchandise and 60% to 100% tariffs on items from China. Economists say the coverage could be broadly inflationary and that it could increase prices for customers.
When reached for remark about whether or not a future Trump administration would intervene with the EU on behalf of Apple, Trump marketing campaign senior advisor Brian Hughes cited assist from “industry leaders like Elon Musk and David Sacks” as proof of the energy of his financial insurance policies. “President Trump’s agenda includes economic, energy and regulatory policies that will allow the US to reclaim its global dominance of innovation and technology,” Hughes stated in a press release.
Apple didn’t reply to a request for remark.
