Trump Says Tim Cook Called Him To Complain About the EU (theverge.com) 28
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Donald Trump said Apple CEO Tim Cook called him to discuss the billions of dollars that Apple has been fined in the European Union. Trump made the statement during his appearance on the PBD Podcast -- and said that he won't let the EU "take advantage" of US companies like Apple if reelected. "Two hours ago, three hours ago, he [Cook] called me," Trump said. "He said the European Union has just fined us $15 billion... Then on top of that, they got fined by the European Union another $2 billion." In March, the EU fined Apple around $2 billion after finding that Apple used its dominance to restrict music streaming apps from telling customers about cheaper subscription deals outside the App Store. The EU later won its fight to make Apple pay $14.4 billion in unpaid taxes.
"He [Cook] said something that was interesting," Trump said. "He said they're using that to run their enterprise, meaning Europe is their enterprise. "I said, 'That's a lot... But Tim, I got to get elected first, but I'm not going to let them take advantage of our companies -- that won't, you know, be happening.'" Trump has talked to several Big Tech executives over the past several months. "During an interview this week, Trump said he spoke with Google CEO Sundar Pichai to complain about all the 'bad stories' the search engine shows about him," notes The Verge. "Elon Musk recently spoke at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania, while Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg called Trump over the summer 'a few times,' according to the former president."
"He [Cook] said something that was interesting," Trump said. "He said they're using that to run their enterprise, meaning Europe is their enterprise. "I said, 'That's a lot... But Tim, I got to get elected first, but I'm not going to let them take advantage of our companies -- that won't, you know, be happening.'" Trump has talked to several Big Tech executives over the past several months. "During an interview this week, Trump said he spoke with Google CEO Sundar Pichai to complain about all the 'bad stories' the search engine shows about him," notes The Verge. "Elon Musk recently spoke at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania, while Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg called Trump over the summer 'a few times,' according to the former president."
So, anybody see the comet? (Score:1, Offtopic)
I got a good look Saturday night by chance. I was working outside in the evening and there it was.
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"Maga's Gate"
Who's Tim Cook? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Who's Tim Cook? (Score:4, Informative)
Oh come on, moderators. [cnbc.com] This should be +1 Funny.
Re: Who's Tim Cook? (Score:2)
Trump says (Score:5, Insightful)
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>if he was president, what could he do about the EU
Trade negotiations and sanctions are a thing. Last time he was president, his tariffs on EU products enabled a lot of negotiations and concessions, including regulatory concessions. Some of which came during his tenure, and some during current one.
And with current vice president and former president being two primary candidates, Cook would be in dereliction of his duty if he didn't lobby both to help his US headquartered megacorp with government to gover
Well, let's wait for Cook to confirm (Score:3)
Because ... you know ... let's just wait.
That said, this doesn't strike me as that odd. If Apple did something that ran afoul of anti-competition laws in the EU, I would expect them to be fined.
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Who cares if Tim did call him?
Are you gonna switch your vote?
Or switch to Android?
CEOs talk to politicians all the time.
If Tim endorsed him or contributed a spare billion to his campaign, that would be big news.
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Who cares if Tim did call him?
Well I for one really don't. My point is that I'm not going to take Trump's word on what was discussed, or even that Cook called, because Trump has a history of making up or misrepresenting conversations he had with others.
I imagine these guys talk to both candidates (Score:3)
They're gonna try and position themselves as best they can, from the start, with both Trump and Harris.
EU is not the USA (Score:2)
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You realize the US actually has a great deal of pull with the EU, right? The US has a lot of resources and weight they can throw around to make EU member states miserable if they don't bend to the US' will. They've done this kind of thing before, and there's no doubt in my mind they'd do it again.
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I don't think you understand. The GDP of the US is 50% greater than the GDP of the EU.
You could combine the GDP of China and India together and still not be able to compare to the US.
The US could totally throw their weight around and heavily influence the EU if they wanted to. They could make things MISERABLE for the EU if they wanted to.
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Why do you think it didn't happen? Tim Cook is a snake, and he would TOTALLY throw principal out the window for money He has, many times before. He's a scumbag.
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Corporations primary principle is making money. It's their reason for existence. Everything else is in service of that.
So this story is completely believable. In fact, Cook would be in dereliction of his duties of care toward shareholders and employees if he didn't attempt to lobby all likely presidential candidates to help his company in government to government issues, such as foreign regulatory oversight.
Is he saying (Score:1)