Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
Businesses China United States Apple Politics

Apple CEO Says He Has Urged Trump To Address Legal Status of Immigrants; Also Told Him That Tariffs Are Wrong Approach To China (bloomberg.com) 381

Apple chief executive Tim Cook told Bloomberg Television that he has criticized Donald Trump's approach to trade with China in a recent White House meeting, while also urging the president to address the legal status of immigrants known as Dreamers. From the interview: Cook said his message to Trump focused on the importance of trade and how cooperation between two countries can boost the economy more than nations acting alone. Cook met with Trump in the Oval Office in late April amid a brewing trade war between the U.S. and China. The Trump administration instituted 25 percent tariffs on at least $50 billion worth of products from China, sparking retaliation. In the interview on "The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations," Cook acknowledged that previous trade policies were flawed but said Trump's move is also problematic. "It's true, undoubtedly true, that not everyone has been advantaged from that -- in either country -- and we've got to work on that," Cook said. "But I felt that tariffs were not the right approach there, and I showed him some more analytical kinds of things to demonstrate why."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Apple CEO Says He Has Urged Trump To Address Legal Status of Immigrants; Also Told Him That Tariffs Are Wrong Approach To China

Comments Filter:
  • Good (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 15, 2018 @09:49AM (#56614694)

    I voted for Tim Cook for president and am glad his policies will now be implemented. /sarcasm

    WTF? Why would I give a crap about what Cook thinks needs to be done? I voted Trump in because Trump was going to do things I wanted. If Tim wanted his policies to be put into place, perhaps he should have run instead. What is it with liberals that don't run, or can't win elections thinking their ideas should be put into place even if the majority of citizens showed they disagree with them. You all like to say the GOP needs to stay out of my bedroom, well the DNC needs to stay out of my government until they can win an election without having the FBI/CIA/NSA all spying on opposition campaigns attempting to throw the election their way illegally.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Opportunist ( 166417 )

      What world do you live in? In ours it doesn't matter who you vote for but how much money you stuff in his ass.

      Whores don't suck you for nice words or cheering for them, they suck you for greenbacks.

    • Why indeed. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Comboman ( 895500 ) on Tuesday May 15, 2018 @10:13AM (#56614854)

      Why would I give a crap about what Cook thinks needs to be done?

      How about because he is the CEO of one of America's largest and most successful companies? I suppose you'd rather take economic advice from a senile reality-show host and real estate con-man who had to declare bankruptcy multiple times.

      • Re:Why indeed. (Score:5, Insightful)

        by BronsCon ( 927697 ) <social@bronstrup.com> on Tuesday May 15, 2018 @10:31AM (#56614996) Journal
        How about we take what he wants re: China with a grain of salt because the company he's the CEO of does a lot of manufacturing there and, of course, he doesn't want tariffs as those affect his bottom line?
      • Re:Why indeed. (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Daemonik ( 171801 ) on Tuesday May 15, 2018 @10:44AM (#56615102) Homepage
        How about no,exactly because he IS a CEO? He could give two squirts what happens to the rest of the US, as long as Apple's shareholders (including himself) continue to warm their asses with the giant pile of offshored cash Apple has, and the trade policies he wants are what will help Apple, not you.
      • How about because he is the CEO of one of America's largest and most successful companies? I suppose you'd rather take economic advice from a senile reality-show host and real estate con-man who had to declare bankruptcy multiple times.

        Is 'neither' an option?

      • How about because he is the CEO of one of America's largest and most successful companies?

        He didn't make Apple successful, and Apple has clearly lost any pretense of direction under his leadership. That won't actually harm them for ages because they have all the money they need for the foreseeable future, but it's not clear that he has anything insightful to say about anything.

    • Do you like what you got?

    • I notice you weren't concerned about the _proven_ Russian interference in our political process. Fucking traitor, you and the rest of the trumpsters.

      • Re:Good (Score:4, Funny)

        by HornWumpus ( 783565 ) on Tuesday May 15, 2018 @01:51PM (#56616256)

        I'm not concerned about the last _100_years_ of proven Russian interference in our political process.

        Because Russia is, economically, about as big as New York City.

        I might be concerned if we had a president who took his wife to Lenin's tomb for their honeymoon. But that was Sanders, so no worries.

        • Maybe they were plugging away for 100 years, but this time they actually got their puppet installed. I'm definitely concerned that we have a Russian spy occupying the WH, but clearly that is not an issue for you.

          The Economy of New York City is nothing to scoff at as it would rank 12th if it were a nation, more than enough to keep the orange lawn gnome in its pocket.

          Since Sanders isn't president but does care about US human citizens, I'm not sure why you'd decide that he's some kind of threat to you. Unles

          • Your on crack dude. But keep it up.

            Four more years!

            • You're on crack dude. But keep it up.

              Four more years of shit sandwiches for us plebes!

              FTFY

              • President Trump, say it chump. Get used to it.

                • resident drupmft! resident drumptft chump! resident drumpft is a no-class chump!

                  How's that?

                  Every day I feel like I woke up in "Back to the Future II", so daily it is like living in bizarro land.

                  • Enjoy!

                    I just thank god for the time travellers that turned the election. Too bad we can't do anything to help their dystopian timeline. Shooting Chelsea in this one wouldn't accomplish anything.

                    • Enjoy?

                      I'll survive this down period, not sure about the country, and especially the poor country folk who voted for drumpft and are some of the primary victims of his "policies".

                      Hahaha! You're pretty deranged: you believe in multiple parallel universes. You are also a violent psychopath who would like to shoot an innocent ugly girl for no reason.

                      Just to clarify, I am no fan of shillary and didn't vote for her and hate what her and the DNC did to Bernie. I voted for Jill Stein. Bernie would have destroye

    • Tim Cook is an influential and respected member of the community. He did help create lots of jobs and his decisions had impact on the economy on the order of hundreds of billions of dollars. He has seen and known far more than you or I in the area of tariffs and to a lesser degree immigration, therefore his opinion has far more weight than mine or yours (very likely -- can't say since you posted as AC, you could be Tim Cook).

      To a degree, Tim Cook is an elder in the community, so his opinions are worth consi

  • by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Tuesday May 15, 2018 @09:50AM (#56614704)

    Tim Cook, like so many others, does not seem to understand that Trump's not actually implementing most tariffs, he is just using them as a tool - asking fir China to reduce import fees or else he'll implement the tariffs. Because Trump is kind of crazy, the Chinese can't tell if he will or not so they actually back off.

    Trump's use of tariffs as a threat is working [fortune.com].

    • by drik00 ( 526104 )

      Exactly! People don't understand the idea of negotiating through strength...

      As far as DACA goes, it's never reported ANYWHERE that Trump has repeatedly said he wants Congress to pass a law to address the DACA recipients because Obama's creation of DACA via Executive Order was unconstitutional. He didn't rescind DACA out of malice or hate, he did it because it was essentially an illegal action by his predecessor.

      On a side note, it's the Democrats that have blocked any legislative solution on DACA recipients

      • But he's not negotiating through strength, he's negotiating from a position of lunatic-with-weapon. So the question is 'is this guy crazy enough to pull the trigger and hurt the hostage, knowing that the police will then open fire on him?'. It might work as they appease you until they find another way to neutralize the threat, but it seriously undermines everyones willingness to deal with the guy in the future.
        Your DACA comment is extremely disingenuous for 2 reasons. First, all his calls for Congress to d
    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by jittles ( 1613415 )

      Tim Cook, like so many others, does not seem to understand that Trump's not actually implementing most tariffs, he is just using them as a tool - asking fir China to reduce import fees or else he'll implement the tariffs. Because Trump is kind of crazy, the Chinese can't tell if he will or not so they actually back off.

      Trump's use of tariffs as a threat is working [fortune.com].

      He also walked away with a $500M loan from the Chinese government to build a resort in Indonesia. But you’re right, he totally did all of this to reduce China’s import tariffs on US products.

  • by cogeek ( 2425448 ) on Tuesday May 15, 2018 @09:50AM (#56614710)
    So the CEO of a company that relies on low tariffs to justify outsourcing their products to be manufactured by forced child laborers has advised against raising tariffs on their products coming back into the country. Imagine that....
  • by RogueWarrior65 ( 678876 ) on Tuesday May 15, 2018 @09:54AM (#56614734)

    When political opponents say that whatever their political rival is doing is the "wrong approach" but neglect to offer a realistic alternative, my ass begins to twitch.

    • by King_TJ ( 85913 ) on Tuesday May 15, 2018 @10:19AM (#56614900) Journal

      Tim Cook probably has self-serving reasons to give this advice ... but still? I'd say the libertarian-minded stance would be the same; don't implement tariffs.

      The best alternative isn't a "quick fix" like most politicians are seeking. The long-term, best solution, involves encouraging U.S. based startups and small businesses to develop, and to perhaps a lesser extent, to provide some aid for mid-sized businesses too.

      If you impose fees on imported goods but your country doesn't offer enough comparable alternatives of its own that people want to buy instead, you wind up either A) punishing U.S. citizens by cutting off goods they want to buy, or B) causing the country doing the importing to mark up the prices of what they're selling to compensate for the higher taxes on bringing it in, while again ultimately making the American people cover that cost.

  • Also told him, buy iPhones!
  • Well, that's lovely. Nobody voted for Tim Cook to implement his ideas on these things, so his political power to do so is zero.

    Unless Dems think that Cook should have lots of political power, because he sold lots of stuff and capitalism is great so that's kinda like people voting.

    If so, I await their heads exploding, like a 1960s sci fi robot caught in a contradiction ...

    • or that great scene in movie 'scanners'
    • Unless Dems think that Cook should have lots of political power, because he sold lots of stuff and capitalism is great so that's kinda like people voting.

      [The vast majority of] Democrats and Republicans alike will do whatever he wants if he contributes enough to their campaigns. That's what capitalism is all about!

  • It seems that currently the issue that prevents Dreamers from applying for legal immigration is the question on the immigration forms that requires people to declare if they came to the US illegally in the past and spent time in the US illegally and are subject to 3 or 10 year bans ... Seems the simplest solution is to just update the form and regulations to specify that it only applies to time you were in the US illegally when you were over 18 years old. If you came before you were 18 then you were a chi

  • I mean, c'mon. There are apple fanboys but their numbers are not enough to catapult this idiot into anything or anyone who would have a say-so about how the country is administered or how the economy runs. He has a grandeur vision of himself. May be has one of those funny mirrors in his office making him look like much bigger than he is and he started believing it.
  • He'd have stayed focussed on creating new interesting products at Apple.

    And he definitely wouldn't have used wishy-washy terms like "problematic."

  • by Attila Dimedici ( 1036002 ) on Tuesday May 15, 2018 @10:26AM (#56614962)
    Trump does not have the authority to address the legal status of "Dreamers". Only Congress can do that....something which Trump has asked them to do.
    • Actually, he could do a lot with executive orders, Obama acted like a king with them.

      • But, as proved by the fact that the issue has come up, he cannot actually resolve their legal status. Obama tried resolving their legal status by executive order (after stating repeatedly that he did not have the authority to do so), yet here we are.
    • Trump does not have the authority to address the legal status of "Dreamers". Only Congress can do that....something which Trump has asked them to do.

      This is quite true, but surely you know the reason why he's doing this. And it's not because it's the right thing to do or he loves the US Constitution or he respects separation of powers or whatever. He knows that Congress is so dysfunctional that it will simply never reach a deal and that Republican members of the House are running for re-election locally on racially charged anti-immigration platforms that play well in the small towns that Republican districts mostly contain and they'll quite simply nev

    • by bigpat ( 158134 )

      Trump does not have the authority to address the legal status of "Dreamers". Only Congress can do that....something which Trump has asked them to do.

      Maybe. The courts hadn't ruled on whether DACA was legal or not. I tend to agree that it wasn't legal. But I also think that penalizing people for actions that their parents took while they were under 18 isn't something the courts should uphold either.

      If you were an illegal immigrant before you turned 18 then that time spent in the US illegally shouldn't be held against you for the purposes of denying you an opportunity to apply for things like student or other visas like any other immigrant. I don't th

  • by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Tuesday May 15, 2018 @10:42AM (#56615090)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • by pecosdave ( 536896 ) on Tuesday May 15, 2018 @10:54AM (#56615180) Homepage Journal

    However China doesn't think that tariffs are the wrong approach to the U.S. Nor do they think intellectual property theft is a problem. In fact the tariffs Trump has levied are still tiny in comparison to the ones China has on us, they just seem bigger (an in raw, no percentages taken into account it does mean more money) due to the huge trade imbalance.

    As a libertarian I'm against tariffs.

    I'm also against slavery, and to one degree or another China engages in it. I would argue the income tax system is slavery to, so the U.S. engages in it, but it's a matter of degree, many non-libertarians would argue by their measuring sticks that the U.S. does not engage in slavery through income tax but China still enslaves their people by the same measure.

    I don't think tariffs are the right approach, but we are playing a game where China has established the way they're playing that game. It's up to us to play with the rules they have established in mind, and our president has chosen to answer in kind, in percentages that are smaller than the ones they've presented against us. I can't fully fault Trump for his approach. My general approach to someone not playing by a rule set I agree with is to take my ball and go home, and I agree that probably isn't the right approach in this case.

    Everybody Knows [youtube.com]

  • by sjbe ( 173966 ) on Tuesday May 15, 2018 @11:01AM (#56615216)

    "But I felt that tariffs were not the right approach there, and I showed him some more analytical kinds of things to demonstrate why."

    Yeah and Trump is just all about being analytical instead of shoot from the hip reactionary. The guy has the attention span shorter than my puppy and has to have pretty pictures in his presentations to hold his attention. Analytical isn't going to convince him of anything. Flattery might...

    • by geek ( 5680 )

      "But I felt that tariffs were not the right approach there, and I showed him some more analytical kinds of things to demonstrate why."

      Yeah and Trump is just all about being analytical instead of shoot from the hip reactionary. The guy has the attention span shorter than my puppy and has to have pretty pictures in his presentations to hold his attention. Analytical isn't going to convince him of anything. Flattery might...

      Lots of billionaire reactionaries eh? Here is a hint, if you don't understand it and the other guy is far more successful than you, perhaps he just knows shit you don't? That would be too easy of a conclusion though and wouldn't feed your ego I guess.

  • by Chas ( 5144 ) on Tuesday May 15, 2018 @12:04PM (#56615590) Homepage Journal

    There's a distinct difference.

  • Coal miners don't design iPhones or own Apple TVs.
  • Allen asked Trump to address the legal status of illegal aliens. Immigrants have a legal status, illegal aliens do not.
  • I agree with him about the illegals and H1Bs.
    But seriously, he is dead wrong about tariffs. China not only manipulates their money against the dollar, but has loads of tariffs against imports, esp. against the west. It is best that we raise tariffs on similar areas. For example, they have LARGE tariffs against cars from the west. We need to raise tariffs on cars and car parts from CHina. And it should ramped up monthly over several years, not just simply be slapped out like he is doing. This way, either
  • The previous attempts didn't work. Let's see where Trump's plan takes us. I don't like tariffs either. But it's better than doing nothing and watching our economy tank to China.

  • by kenh ( 9056 )

    A guy that runs a company with billions in the bank from selling music, cellphone apps, tablets and cellphones wouldn't be my go-to source for opinions on immigration and tarrifs.

    Tim Cook got his job when Steve Jobs passed - Tim is an executive (a suit, in /. parlance), yet some how he is held up as some sort of 'Gandalf-like' character, his every utterance worthy of being carved in stone.

    I don't care about Tim Cook's opinions on immigration, has Cook ever found himself competing against an illegal immigran

  • Company that has its super expensive stuff all made in China says tariffs are the wrong approach.

    I'm sure he just thinks is bad, not that he is afraid of a 25% tariff on his products.

  • From the guy who told the EU after the EU told Apple they underpaid taxes to Ireland: you can have taxes or jobs not both.

    Fuck Off Tim Cook, you tax cheat.

Avoid strange women and temporary variables.

Working...