Trump Says Tim Cook Called Him To Complain About the EU (theverge.com) 182
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:5, Interesting)
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"
I only come to Slashdot for the comments. (Score:4, Interesting)
Unfortunately not see. I did get a photo of it though. There was too much light pollution and I had to bump the contrast up in the picture. However now that the comet is higher I may get the telescope out and give it another go, it's supposed to be clear this weekend.
This is a much better conversation than the worthless Trump rants about being upset that the EU has its own laws.
Who's Tim Cook? (Score:5, Funny)
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Oh come on, moderators. [cnbc.com] This should be +1 Funny.
Re: Who's Tim Cook? (Score:2)
Tim Cooks Apple (Score:3)
Tim Cooks Apple.
Delicious.
https://www.themediterraneandi... [themediterraneandish.com]
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So TIm Apple called me today, he said, Mr. President, Mr.President, and he had tears in his eyes, and I said I know Apples, I have the best Apples, the best Apples, and then I do the weave and all the Apples come together brilliantly, and everyone agrees its the most brilliant thing, and if you vote for Hillary she'll take all your Apples away, and those numbers are so big, so big, but who the hell wants to hear about Tim Apple, let's listen to YMCA again while I sway back and forth.
Trump says (Score:5, Insightful)
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not to mention, Trump knows or understands what the EU is ? ,very doubtful.
Very
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I believe it not because I think Trump is credible, but rather because I think Tim Cook is a two timing snake who would totally appeal to Trump behind closed doors, while touting progressivism and liberalism publicly.
I worked at Apple while Steve Jobs was alive, and it was a very principled company. Steve Jobs' body wasn't even cold in the ground yet when Tim Cook started replacing all the principals with process that focused on making money and shareholder value. Steve Jobs picked the wrong person and as a
Re:Trump says (Score:5, Insightful)
I believe it not because I think Trump is credible, but rather because I think Tim Cook is a two timing snake who would totally appeal to Trump behind closed doors, while touting progressivism and liberalism publicly.
As much as I'd like to doubt this, Peter Thiel is a thing, so this is sadly a genuine possibility.
Re:Trump says (Score:4, Insightful)
This is the common way the powerful operate. They need to appease the masses, but at the same time a company the size of Apple has a leadership that is deeply involved in the politics of the land. It stands to reason that Tim Cook would appeal to *both sides* given the current poll has the potential future leader as a coin toss.
Re:Trump says (Score:4, Informative)
Construction on Nord Stream 2 was completed, but it never entered service. Whether the US opposition was instrumental is clouded by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But the point remains that the US did impose sanctions on European countries to get its way.
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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
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Cook would be in dereliction of his duty
Funny, if this was any other country he'd be either investigated for bribery or executed for impersonating the king / despot. It's only in the US where corporations view such acts as a "dereliction of their duties" instead of "direct threats to their core business interests."
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Not sure which countries you're referring to, but all countries that are high on personal freedoms (i.e. do not have despots and if they have kings they are ceremonial rather than actual acting leaders) consider it to be normal for someone employed in a leadership position to have a duty to people who own the company and work at it.
I guess you're talking about DPRK?
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... consider it to be normal for someone employed in a leadership position to have a duty to people who own the company and work at it.
(emphasis mine) ..."?
Are we rewriting constitutions or something? Is it now, "We the People who own companies of the United States,
Our leaders have a duty to the people, full stop. No qualifiers of "... who own companies" or "... who own land" - we've moved on from the landowner concept, though I'll admit that, in practice, companies have far too much influence. That doesn't mean we the people consider it normal.
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Anyway, even if he was president, what could he do about the EU.
He'll put a 2000% tariff on EU apples? :-)
Re:Trump says (Score:5, Funny)
Anyway, even if he was president, what could he do about the EU.
He could complain about it on X. At 2 am. Every night. With lots of typos.
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Re:Trump says (Score:4, Insightful)
Who believes anything he says anymore.
Incels, racists, mysoginists, the unemployable.... However it is something I can see happening, especially if Cook isn't going to deny it.
Anyway, even if he was president, what could he do about the EU. In case he has not noticed, they are not part of the US and basically do not give a damn about what the US thinks.
If Trump were president... he could do sweet fuck all. We saw this before, he was completely incompetent and had no idea what he was doing, but he had to be at the centre of it all issuing orders. A perfect example of someone who is supremely confident in abilities they just don't possess.
A competent president can bring diplomatic pressure to bear on the EU, offer incentives and concessions. Ultimately the EU has the power to tell the US to go "do one" but isn't likely to because they understand the benefits of a good relationship with the US. However a competent president would more likely seek to copy parts of European law as they're actually beneficial to European residents and would be equally beneficial to Americans.
The EU, as we've seen multiple times with Brexit, is more than willing to call a bluff and follow through with their promises, so Trumps usual style of bluster and bullshit over tact and reason will get him laughed at by world leaders... again.
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In particular, these are the anti-trust people. They are probably used to idiots truing to influence them and do not give a damn.
No more war. No more bloodshed. (Score:2)
Re:Trump says (Score:5, Informative)
They care somewhat, they got pretty upset last time when it was suggested they should pay their NATO bills, that they had already agreed to and weren't doing.
The number paying their dues ALSO fell sharply in 2021, another weird coincidence!
Military spending targets are not NATO bills or dues.
What people were upset about was NOT the ask to pay more. It was unhinged language that directly undermines the alliance. The whole concept of NATO is based on an untested premise of collective defense. If you have members mouthing off they not only won't come to your aid but encourage the enemy to do whatever they want it erodes the very thing holding the alliance together - trust amongst the members.
I'm sure its just a coincidence though.
There is massive demand for weapons from European states as a result of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. You'll notice the countries paying the most on defense as a percentage of GDPs are in eastern Europe closest to Russia.
Because we all know Trump can never do anything good.
Trump is a national embarrassment.
Re:Trump says (Score:5, Informative)
Trump is a national embarrassment.
He's more than that. He's a criminal. See if you can match [imgur.com] who said what about the convicted felon. He's such a complete waste of matter, 40 out of 44 members [imgur.com] of his handpicked cabinet refuse to endorse him.
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I'm a huge Trump critic, but you have to give credit where credit is due. Unlike what both sides try to make people think, the other side is not always 100% bad and wrong about anything.
Getting NATO to spend more is one of Trump's accomplishments. All the more important against the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Ukraine that followed. Despite Trump frequently acting like Putin's puppet, that at least was something that worked in favor of protecting Western Democracy, even if it was not enough.
All of th
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This recent article from The Atlantic is on point on the subject. Unfortunately behind a paywall, but I think you get one free read:
What's with all the Trump VC's? [theatlantic.com]
Re:Trump says (Score:5, Interesting)
That asshole did nothing to up Europe's defence spend. That was entirely the result of Putin, his "requisitioning' part of Georgia, attempting to take Ukraine, and leaning on Moldova is what caused Europe to up their defence spend. And the problems in the Middle-East also contributed. Stop repeating his lies.
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Over the years, I've read often on Slashdot, people writing comments that it's a corporation and their only purpose is to make profit, they don't care about you.
I often thought that was too dry and cynical, and not really the case, and that actually some corporations are better than others and have more principles and ethics than others.
But more recently, I started reading The Corporation by Bakan. It makes the case that essentially and legally, the way corporations function, they have to be psychopathic. T
Re:Trump says (Score:5, Insightful)
recently, I started reading The Corporation by Bakan. It makes the case that essentially and legally, the way corporations function, they have to be psychopathic. There's no other way for them to function.
That, however, is false. Corporations are legally obligated to follow their charter. The charter can include a commitment to public service, paying taxes necessary to maintain the state, etc. If it does, shareholders will avoid investment. Therefore it is not corporations which ultimately make this decision, nor does corporate law force it. It is shareholders who demand it.
This is why shareholders should share in legal responsibility for corporate actions, at least financially. The market is first and foremost a vehicle for separating those who profit from responsibility, and rights without responsibilities are always disastrous.
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I'm not sure I follow. Are you saying they could but don't?
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An example snippet:
"So the state of New Jersey in 1889, I think it was, agreed to eliminate all constraints on corporations. Charters had had constraints. New Jersey let them come in without constraints. So there was of course a big flood of corporate money across the river. And that's why you have things like Standard Oil of New Jersey and so on. And then it started a race to the bottom, everyone had to do the same thing.
After a short period of time the conditions on corporations, the conditions of their c
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Doesn't Apple have a choice of not doing business in the EU if they thought they are being unfairly treated?
Or is EU forcing Apple to do business there?
And if the fines and regulations are too much for Apple, they can always leave, right?
Why is Apple still doing business in a place which is targetting them unfairly? Maybe the shareholders should ask this of Apple.......
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"They care somewhat, they got pretty upset last time when it was suggested they should pay their NATO bills"
No, everyone sensible got pretty upset when Trump said he'd let Russia do "whatever the hell they wanted to to them". Are you stupid or just MAGA?
"Because we all know Trump can never do anything good."
Trump is a malevolent narcissist. He is only out for himself and anything that is perceived as good is only an accidental byproduct of him trying to get what he wants.
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>any politician says to begin with.
Good "both sides" there.
Fortunately not true.
Well, let's wait for Cook to confirm (Score:4, Informative)
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.
Re:Well, let's wait for Cook to confirm (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Well, let's wait for Cook to confirm (Score:4, Informative)
Who said anything about dems getting away with it. They get called out plenty of times as well.
In other news Trump only last week claimed John Deere decided not to build a factory in Mexico based on the fact that Trump wouldn't let him. Unfortunately he made that up completely as well https://newrepublic.com/post/1... [newrepublic.com]
This is good. Both you and I should be pointing out the things which are lies. Just don't get upset when you run out of material while we are still only on chapter 1, volume 1 of 10 of Trumps verbal bullshit.
All politicians lie, but Trump lies more than the combined effort of all the house, the senate, and everyone running for it in elections.
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Are you gonna switch your vote?
Maybe a few MAGA church followers will finally realize their orange prophet roots for disgusting billionaires who don't pay their taxes more than honest working stiffs.
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At this point it's likely less anti-competition and more DSA and AI regulation related stuff. Both are trade issues/barriers from perspective of US corporations, but with WTO's primary resolution mechanism now having failed that neither Trump nor Biden/(Harris) administration approving any new judges in almost 8 years of their combined rule, it makes sense for corporations to ask their respective governments to lobby for them directly instead. Especially in US, where both candidates policies on WTO are clea
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Don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen. Unlike some other companies *cough*Tesla*cough*, Apple actually wants to be publicly perceived as being progressive, so any back room dealings with conservatives has to stay on the down low.
I imagine these guys talk to both candidates (Score:4, Interesting)
They're gonna try and position themselves as best they can, from the start, with both Trump and Harris.
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They're gonna try and position themselves as best they can, from the start, with both Trump and Harris.
You'd only have to make half the number of calls if you wait until after one of them wins. No, if this actually did happen, it's because there's some quid pro quo implied. If we start seeing Trump ads start popping up on everyone's iThings, well, now we know what Tim's end of the bargain was.
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I don't think that approach - waiting to see if he wins first - would work with Trump. He'd definitely fault you for not paying obeisance erifarly enough.
It might make one's initial relationship with President Harris a trifle chilly, too.
EU is not the USA (Score:4, Insightful)
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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.
Re:EU is not the USA (Score:4, Insightful)
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Impose levies on wine, parmesan and high fashion and he's getting free lobbyists in the EU. One side get's to pay more for iPhones, the other side has to make do with chilean champagne and grated cheddar
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Not everyone is moved by money alone. It remains to be seen if the EU countries will be, but it's still a lesson worth learning regardless.
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I am not denying that the USA could make life miserable of any country it wanted to bully, but bullies do not always get the out come they want. Short of a military invasion there is no way the USA can force any country do someth
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I'm no Trump fan or even a fan of the US throwing it's weight around too much but threat of a simple withdrawal of military support to Europe would go a long way to the US getting its way on something. With Russia being the issue that it is Eastern Europe would give an awful lot to keep the US around and even simple things like France projecting it's military into nearby Africa would become far harder to impossible for somethings without US aid. They certainly couldn't do what they're doing now without us
Eu
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While it's hard to nail Trump down on things like this because he spews such constant spray of bullshit it's generally considered unlikely in the US that he would have us just up and leave the treaty on becoming president https://www.politico.com/news/... [politico.com] . His threats to leave are usually tied to certain countries not meeting their 2% of GDP military spending minimum after all. A goal most Americans support, a lot of us just don't like his methods in trying to accomplish it. In fact, I think Russia's secon
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The EU rolling over in this case would open up the possibility for every US company to do as they please and get away with it if they only need to shmooze the president.
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While the EU nations both import and export a great deal to the US, this is the only leverage they have.
EU could just as well increase imports/exports to China to deal with a belligerent US.
And how would this "heavy influence" not affect the US, as well? Biggest export to the US of the EU is machinery. Where do US manufacturers get their machines, then? There is no other market for those parts. If we don't allow/make it more expensive for US companies to sell into the EU, where do they get their money from?
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Yeah sure, "The US is a world superpower! 'Merica." But guess what? 'Merica isn't the only superpower in the world anymore, and lately it's been abandoning it's core "principles" on the world stage whenever it's convenient. To say nothing of the previous guy's temper tantrums with the EU and other NATO countries, or his penchant for ripping up international agreements on a whim. (I.e. Not the kind of guy you want to make long ter
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China has been taking advantage of the increasingly divided and extreme politics in the US to sell itself as the new stable superpower for some years now.
The EU kinda has too, but tends to take a less colonial attitude than the US. It's mostly about trade, which is done on the EU's terms, and doesn't include all the geopolitical stuff, or the mandatory boot-licking.
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and lately it's been abandoning it's core "principles" on the world stage whenever it's convenient
Lately? The last time we acted on principle was WWI. And we didn't like the results, so we didn't when WWII came around.
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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.
No the USA does not have the pull required to get the EU to drop landmark laws. This is something incidentally the USA has tried multiple times in the past and failed at (remember the debacle with requirement to keep data within the bloc?).
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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. .
What they'll take away Apple, Facebook, Google, Starbucks and Costa? Oh no how will we survive?
Re:EU is not the USA (Score:5, Insightful)
I used to think he was pandering, but we're talking about a man who bankrupted a casino, invested his wealth worse than a simple index fund, and was absolutely perplexed when it turned out that Haitians weren't eating dogs and cats, and were in the country legally.
He is a man that got upset that China put tariffs on American goods after he unilaterally put tariffs on Chinese goods (the result of which had a bigger effect on America than China), and also got upset when the WTO called his tariffs unjustified to the point where he threatened to pull the USA out (which would be a Brexit level disaster for the country)
I genuinely think he has no idea how the world works. If he was some kind of genius he could make such claims without looking incredibly stupid.
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Um, would you be interested in buying an undersea gas pipeline, slightly broken?
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Would Slashdotters vote for Trump? (Score:5, Interesting)
A question from a Brit. Would the denizens of Slashdot vote for Trump? Honestly. Personally I don't think anyone here would buy into the virtual reality that Trump seems to live in.
I'm somewhat surprised that the head of Apple would call him to have a moan about the EU imposing fines for abusing their dominance in the marketplace. If he was a sitting president, then maybe, but as a multi-impeached ex-president? It feels like it would dirty Apple's squeaky-clean persona, even though they are just as predatory as the rest of them. I can understand Trump ringing Pichai about google results, because that pokes holes in his alternative reality. But why would Cook call him to moan about having to hand out what amounts to pocket change? It sounds made-up, to me anyway and not the first time that Trump has said something that is patently not true.
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Incredibly, despite all of it, he seems to be in with a genuine chance of becoming POTUS again next month. So naturally Tim Apple will want to get in early and maybe even plant some ideas that Trump could ramble about at one of his rallies.
Re:Would Slashdotters vote for Trump? (Score:4, Interesting)
Would the denizens of Slashdot vote for Trump?
Depends on if you ask people with mod points or not. Scroll to the top of the comments section and pull the sliders all the way to the right revealing how many Slashdotters are actually mad keen trump supporters. Slashdot is just news for nerds, we're not big or important enough for all of those supporters to be Russian trolls. There are legit people who buy the Trump bullshit and get off on sniffing it.
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Also sorry for the double post but:
I'm somewhat surprised that the head of Apple would call him to have a moan about the EU imposing fines for abusing their dominance in the marketplace. If he was a sitting president, then maybe, but as a multi-impeached ex-president?
This makes perfect sense and I'm not surprised in the slightest. Even in the UK and EU the governments are preparing plans on how to deal with 4 years of Trump presidency. The polls put him winning at a coin toss. The leaders of mega companies have a job to ensure their governments are sympathetic to their businesses. That Tim Cook talked to Trump isn't a surprise, what would be a surprise is if the democrats stated that Tim hadn't also talked to Harris. I would bet you my
Hell yes (Score:2)
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A question from a Brit. Would the denizens of Slashdot vote for Trump?
I absolutely would. Well, not exactly "for Trump", as I don't like his leadership style and lack of diplomatic skills, but rather against the establishment. My top concerns are: a) personal freedoms, including protecting free speech and putting in limits to government power during pandemic; b) weaponization of justice against political opponents (whatever you think of Trump, at least half of prosecutions against him are clearly BS and political); c) the end to endless warmongering that now got us very close
Re:Would Slashdotters vote for Trump? (Score:4, Interesting)
A question from a Brit. Would the denizens of Slashdot vote for Trump? Honestly. Personally I don't think anyone here would buy into the virtual reality that Trump seems to live in.
Some people will vote for Trump in an effort to 'poison the well'. "If I can't participate in society, then I will destroy it."
Re:Would Slashdotters vote for Trump? (Score:5, Interesting)
I know this isn't going to change your mind and you are actually probably in a cult, so whatever.
1. The economy was much better under the last Trump administration than it is now.
"Thanks, Obama!" ANd then, what happened, jobs lost, $8T more debt, etc, etc!!! Next!
2. I know it is somewhat cliche, but yes the border is a factor.
Yes, during COVID border crossings were pretty low, I wonder why? They Trump policies were abusive. The FIRST BILL the Biden Administration put forth was an immigration bill, did you know that? Who killed the latest border bill? TRUMP! NEXT ISSUE PLZ!
3. Media lies. The mainstream media in this country has been consistently pro-Democrat party, and very much anti-Trump.
Now, I know you are going into the crazy land. The media has been sane washing Trump for the past 12 years, and they continue to do it as he gets more and more off the rails. Next!
4. Democrat party pushing censorship.
Now, *you* are pushing MAGA talking points, and this is devolving rapidly. Next!
5. Somehow, the Democrat party has become the party of the rich elite.
Uh hun, your humble Trump, with his inheritance, and JD Vance, sucking the of Thiel. The billionaires who support them. Just look at who wants to do what to who and you can tell which party is on which side, dude. And it isn't Trump that wants to tax the rich and corporations. Next!
6. The Democrats in general put way too much emphasis on a person's skin color or gender.
Harris has gone out of her way not to talk about it. The only on talking about is it Trump , asking her if she's Indian or Black! and the Republicans with their DEI push. Next!
7. Kamala Harris herself. She has not impressed me with anything she has said or done.
Yeah, that sounds like a "you" problem. Let's see your resume, and you can debate Pete Buttigieg on the issues. I'm sure we'll all be quite impressed.
You are voting for the fascist takeover ov the United States.
Re:Would Slashdotters vote for Trump? (Score:5, Interesting)
Anyone who is on Team Trump at this point is pretty much a lost cause. Whether they're cultists by choice or because they've succumbed to propaganda, the kind of people who are willing to repeat those talking points aren't the kind of people who are able to respond to reason.
Fascism and populism appeal to emotions over reason. The best you can do is hope there aren't enough of them to actually win the election, and while a percentage of them will go nuts when their apocalypse comes, most of them will retreat back into the shadows and either quietly nurse their grievances or slowly become embarrassed they were fooled and deny they ever were.
I mean, c'mon, Trump acts senile, gets called on it, and the campaign is "No U!". Trump calls for turning the state on people and organizations that don't slavishly support him and they don't bat an eyelash. He runs con after con - and they're low-rent cons at that, and they keep forking over cash. He scapegoats minorities, and they lap it up because "it's their fault, not mine" is very compelling to losers who don't want to actually have to DO anything to stop being losers.
They're lost.
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Dumbfounded has two too many syllables in it for you.
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I agree with your points. They're valid for many governments where you are simply swapping out the top of the bureaucracy pyramid where the "Party" has power and wait for them to make small, or incremental, changes to the rest of it.
However, Trump was extraordinarily impolite and improper during his presidential visits to Europe (I include the UK in that whether some like it or not, we're still a part of the continent) A bull in a china shop takes more care than he did. He seems to think that the US preside
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So I genuinely think that the EU won't back down with the fines and would simply wait out Trumps presidency.
I think this is very likely what is going to happen, considering that Canada did almost exactly that with NAFTA renegotiation and it worked.
It's bad over here (Score:2)
Tim Apple.... have you heard of him? A lot of people don't know about Tim Apple. He called me about the European Onion, he says "They're against me. They're against us. Sir, is there anything you can do?" They really want us bad over there. Lots of awful deals, terrible deals. Lots of people know about it. And I know because I'm great at Europe. I'm probably the best at Europe since Reagan. Some even say I'm the greatest. Don't know if that's true but some people say it.
Bad Stories (Score:2)
Trump said he spoke with Google CEO Sundar Pichai to complain about all the 'bad stories' the search engine shows about him,"
As they say: If the shoe fits, wear it.
economic war (Score:4, Insightful)
So Trump threatens to ignite an economic war with EU? Can the US manage a simultaneous economic war with both China and EU? And still remain relevant on international politics? After withdrawing from NATO too? Isolationism FTW!
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I don't mind America being taken down a peg or two.
Maybe it will teach the Maga crowd to not do so many stupid shit in the future.
I expect it of Trump but... (Score:2)
Yet another reason to hate Apple.
How they think the non-winner of the next US presidential election is going to stop the EU, for example, convicting the EU arm of Apple for not paying EU taxes in the EU... I'm not sure.
Hell, some of those taxes were the Irish taxes that were deemed unfair state aid, and IRELAND were fighting for them not to be paid, and the EU overruled their own member and forced Apple to pay them.
The words "zero credibility" don't suffice. (Score:3)
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It would actually be good journalism to have a daily article, "Trump made unfounded claims today, and given his history we're not inclined to repeat them for him unless and until proof is provided to back them up".
If you ever had to change that copy, THAT would be news.
Is that a joke? (Score:2)
Trump is saying that Apple being fined for not paying EU taxes in the EU isn't okay, but if someone born in the US lives in the EU the US takes taxes from them as well as the expected EU taxes.
From what I've heard, apart from one small country, the US is the only place that taxes people who aren't even living or working in that country.
Sure thing Donald (Score:2)
The EU can and will do whatever it wants in its own jurisdiction according to its own laws. Including handing massive fines out to monopolies. If Apple or any other company is having a sad about that, they can 1) withdraw from Europe, 2) treat the fines as an operational cost of being a monopoly, i.e. suck it up, 3) stop doing the things that get them fined in the first place.
Apple isn't an American company (Score:2)
They're an Irish company. Just look at their corporate paperwork.
EU corps will be targets for retaliation (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You know what happens if you slap a $1000 fine on a poor person? You may bankrupt them. You slap that $1000 fine on someone who has billions of dollars, and it's a laugh. Setting larger fines on the wealthy while giving smaller fines to those who don't have a lot of money makes sense, the idea is to deter that sort of behavior in the future.
Apple has a huge profit margin on products, so fines should be much higher for them than for those who don't make as much profit.
"I don't like democracy anymore! MYEHHHH!" (Score:2)
Recording, or it didn't happen (Score:2)
Trump is known for making things up.
Your Latest from DrudgeDot! (Score:2)
Hence the answer of course is that we get more conservatives in front of more conservative advertising by running this article. Gotta do something to keep the light on a little longe
I don't actually believe him (Score:3)
I don't believe that Tim Cook called him.
Phone logs or it didn't happen.
Trump lies so much there is no need to think that any particular statement is truthful.
Re: (Score:3)
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.
Re: (Score:2)
I disagree.
Corporations primary principle is to make the best product, whatever that is, for their customers, whoever they are.
This insistence that "profit" is the main goal is hogwash.
Re: (Score:2)
Can you expand on what you mean by that, and how in your view would such a corporation motivate anyone to do anything?
Because remember, we're talking about a corporation, not a charitable endeavor.
Re: (Score:2)
This worship of Jobs really needs to stop. He was a businessman first, asshole second, and everything else a distant tenth. He was really good at convincing people otherwise, which is why he went through women and simps as fast as he did.
For latter, apparently even after his death.
Re: (Score:2)
To quote myself from my previous post:
>he went through... simps as fast as he did... apparently even after his death
Re: (Score:2)
You're equally entitled to your biased and flawed opinion as well. Reminder, Apple got way, way bigger and more valuable after Jobs died than it ever was during his tenure.
Objectively, not subjectively. We can measure it, and we have in fact measured it. Results are in. Apple is way bigger, way better, and way more valuable now than ever during Jobs' tenure. Now comes the hard question:
Was whatever leeway you personally got getting in the way of achieving this level of excellence in producing value, or was
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
As for Google search, it's incredibly biased against Trump. It's shocking. Ditto the MSM.
Maybe they're just reflecting reality's liberal bias.
*flushes rest of nonsense*