In the run-up to President Donald Trump’s recent trip to West Asia, the White House encouraged chief executives and representatives of many US companies to join him. Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, declined, said two people familiar with the decision.
The choice appeared to irritate Trump. As he hopscotched from Saudi Arabia to the United Arab Emirates, Trump took a number of shots at Cook. During his speech in Riyadh, Trump paused to praise Jensen Huang, the chief executive of Nvidia, for travelling to West Asia along with the White House delegation. Then he criticised Cook.
“I mean, Tim Cook isn’t here but you are,” Trump said to Huang at an event attended by chief executives like Larry Fink of the asset manager BlackRock, Sam Altman of OpenAI, Jane Fraser of Citigroup and Lisa Su of the semiconductor company AMD.
Later in Qatar, Trump praised Apple’s investment in the US, then said he had told Cook, “But now I hear you’re building all over India. I don’t want you building in India”.
On Friday morning, Trump caught much of his own administration and Apple’s leadership off guard with a social media post threatening tariffs of 25 per cent on iPhones made anywhere except the US. The new tariff threat is a reversal of fortune for Cook. In eight years, he’s gone from one of Trump’s most beloved chief executives, whom the President mistakenly and humourously called Tim Apple in 2019 — to one of the White House’s biggest corporate targets.
The breakdown has been enough to make insiders across Washington and Silicon Valley wonder: Has tech’s leading Trump whisperer lost his voice?
Nu Wexler, principal at Four Corners Public Affairs, said Cook’s “very public relationship” with Trump has backfired. “It has put Apple at a disadvantage because every move, including a potential concession from Trump, is scrutinised,” Wexler said.
The timing of the White House’s new tariff plan couldn’t be worse for Cook. Last month, the company suffered a stinging defeat in an App Store trial. Still, Apple’s market value has increased by more than $2.5 trillion under his leadership, or about $500 million a day since 2011. And Apple remains a moneymaking machine, generating an annual profit of $100 billion.
With Trump’s reelection, Cook appeared to be in a strong position to help Apple navigate the new administration. This year, their warm relations have run cold.
Apple has tried to head off Trump’s criticisms of its overseas manufacturing by promising to spend $500 billion in the US over the next four years. However, Trump is not satisfied. “If they’re going to sell it in America, I want it to be built in the US,” Trump said Friday. “They’re able to do that.”
Cook hasn’t responded publicly.
New York Times News Service
