Tim Cook rumored to be meeting with Donald Trump for dinner on Friday
After a whirlwind tour of Europe and the UK, Apple CEO Tim Cook is said to be meeting with President Elect Donald Trump for dinner on Friday night.
Tim Cook and Donald Trump, at the Mac Pro factory
The conversation between Cook and Trump, expected to be on a Mar A Lago patio, is likely going to be an extension of a conversation that Trump said he previously had with Cook. While on the election trail, Trump said Cook complained to him about European Union actions, specifically the $15 billion that was put in escrow to deal with Ireland tax issues.
It does not appear that Trump did anything about the fine during his time as president. The funds to pay the fine were put in escrow in 2018, and there is not a statement on record from him about it from that time.
Also likely up for discussion is Trump's proposed tariffs on goods imported from China. Those tariffs are said to increase consumer goods prices notably, with standouts being notebooks and tablets priced at 46% higher than current levels. Game consoles could increase in price by 40%, while smartphones like the iPhone are expected to be 26% more expensive for the consumer.
Apple hasn't confirmed the dinner, which was noted in a report on Friday evening. To date, Trump has not said anything about it on social media.
The Mar A Lago visit may be winding down Cook's travels. While in the UK on Wednesday, Cook shared a video of King Charles III visiting Apple's Battersea Power Station office in London.
The visit was in part to celebrate Apple's work with The King's Trust, an organization to help young people in the UK develop their skills for employment or to start a business.
"We were honoured to welcome His Majesty King Charles to Apple Battersea -- our home in the U.K. -- and we're proud to support The King's Trust in its vital work educating and empowering young people," said Cook. "We look forward to our continued growth here, building on more than 40 years of history in the United Kingdom"
Other tech CEOs are expected to meet with Trump soon, or already have. Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and Google's Sundar Pichai have already met with the President Elect. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is expected to meet with Trump during the week of December 16.
Tim Cook and Donald Trump
Following a public congratulations for winning a second term, the dinner is likely Cook's second effort to reinvigorate his working relationship with Trump. During the first Trump administration, Cook was known for being close to the President, to a far greater degree than other business leaders.
During the term, Trump praised Cook for his communication skills, calling him a "great executive" due to repeatedly contacting Trump directly over important matters.
While others used consultants, Trump was impressed by Cook's personal touch.
The term's famous US-China trade war was potentially damaging to Apple, but Cook led efforts to try and convince Trump from applying tariffs against its products. His influence certainly helped delay the application of tariffs, and did so altogether for iPhone, iPad, and Mac products when Trump signed a limited trade deal.
Outside of the trade war, Cook had visited the White House multiple times and discussed a wide range of topics with the world leader. Even a gaffe where Trump called him "Tim Apple" was taken in stride.
Cook's dealings with he U.S. leadership continued beyond Trump. During the Joe Biden presidency, Cook, his executives, and lobbyists visited the White House at least 87 times as of March 2024, with Cook attending 11 times.
As for the return of Trump, it seems that Cook may have started laying the ground work for the next four years earlier in 2024. It is believed Cook left WWDC early to meet with Trump alongside up to 80 other CEOs, in preparation for the implementation of potential business-related policies if he won.
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Comments
I would rather pay more for my all my creepy capitalistic goods than bow down to him.
It’s great to see Apple have friends in high places again.
looking forward to seeing how this plays out in all the areas we’ve been reading about the last few years.
https://www.nj.com/politics/2024/12/to-work-in-the-trump-administration-you-must-correctly-answer-these-3-questions.html
2020 was 81.2m (blue) vs 74.2m, (red) = 155m
https://edition.cnn.com/election/2020/results/president
2024 was 74.8m (blue) vs 77.1m (red) = 152m
https://eu.usatoday.com/elections/results/2024-11-05/
Some of the difference is due to other candidates than the main two:
https://ballotpedia.org/Presidential_candidates,_2024
https://ballotpedia.org/Presidential_candidates,_2020
Total turnout was noted as 158m in 2020 vs 154m in 2024, very small difference.
But both significantly higher than 2016 at 136m (explained below):
https://ballotpedia.org/Presidential_candidates,_2016
There's something psychological that stops narcissists associating anything negative with themselves like losing. These types commonly refer to other people as losers. You can see his uncomfortable reaction when saying the words that he lost:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Beg9NUOhZTE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCbfTN-caFI&t=947s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJvQHVlkpPI
Someone said he was muttering "I won, I won" after losing because he couldn't handle it:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election-2020/election-results-trump-king-george-b1763487.html
There's another part to this, which is covered in the second video above, which is the excuse used and it comes back to immigration. Millions of people (>20m) migrated to the US between 1990-2015:
https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/charts/immigrant-population-over-time
https://www.facingsouth.org/2020/12/first-time-voters-played-decisive-role-2020-elections
Many of them only become eligible to vote years later and it changes the voting demographics that some people view as not legitimate as they aren't born citizens, hence their desire for a purge, a wall and changes to voter eligibility to prevent it happening again.
Europe is a continent, the UK left the EU, not Europe, same situation as Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Monaco, Montenegro etc.
https://www.tutor2u.net/economics/reference/european-countries-that-are-outside-the-european-union
Cook is one of the best business leaders today and it shows with his willingness for diplomacy.
When it comes to competency, I find it strange that almost every job below the highest job in democratic countries is decided by competency and review but the highest job is decided by a popularity contest, which is clearly no protection against corruption. It's also the same structure regardless of scale.
Tim Cook might not win a popularity contest but he's one of the most competent leaders, people like him should be running countries. At least by being close to the elected leadership, he can have a part in how it's run.
1. 2020 woke up the GOP. A lot more oversight this time.
that’s the past. Now into the future. And it looks fairly promising for American companies like Apple.
2020 was 81.2m (blue) vs 74.2m, (red) = 155m
2024 was 74.8m (blue) vs 77.1m (red) = 152m
Small shift (<5%) to the right was caused by the economy (ridiculous and greed-driven rent, grocery and energy prices with no government intervention), excessive immigration, out of control debt and other left-wing politics. It's not like the party of billionaires will fix all this but it at least sends a message that not doing anything about it isn't good enough.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC-Uf7JiMPM
Regarding 'rigging', this mainly refers to people they don't regard as legitimate voters e.g first generation immigrants who gained citizenship (like Elon). Those people still voted but some shifted right, mainly men (like Elon who used to be left-wing). It's also common for narcissists to pre-emptively disregard losing by coming up with an excuse - if they lose, it wasn't fair. It's just childish, especially from someone with so many bankruptcies, 2 divorces and criminal charges to pretend they are a forever winner.
There were warnings for years that the more extreme people on the left would alienate people in the middle and drive them to the right but they just doubled down and pushed them away. This is the outcome (lost control of everything) and now they are crying in their cars and shaving their heads, not sure who decided the nose ring was a good look:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWlFZM47UuQ
Hopefully they'll learn over the next few years that politics requires compromise but I doubt it. Online interaction has the opposite social dynamic than real life interaction where division and conflict is the driving force and the more that people interact online, the more extreme they get. Zero tolerance politics always ends the same way. It doesn't mean tolerating everything, the left could win in a landslide every time by just being normal people with reasonable, small compromises on social and economic issues and then just pointing at the crazies on the other side.
There are people like this who work at Apple and are against Tim Cook working with the administration but they have to be involved when it comes to things like tariffs. The wrong decisions there could severely affect Apple's business being so dependent on imports from China.