Over the week, the Trump administration announced a set of exemptions for its tariffs imposed on products imported into the United States from China. The exemptions cover product categories like smartphones and laptops, giving Apple a huge reprieve for the iPhone, Mac, and more. In comments earlier this week, Trump bragged about how he “helped” Apple with these exemptions.
A new report from The Washington Post dives into the inner workings of the Trump administration, particularly as they relate to Apple CEO Tim Cook.
According to the report, Cook spoke to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick last week “about the potential impact of the tariffs on iPhone prices.” In addition to Lutnick, he also spoke with “other senior officials in the White House.” Perhaps most importantly, Cook “refrained from publicly criticizing the president or his policies on national television.”
Wilbur Ross, commerce secretary during Trump’s first term, said it’s unsurprising that the current administration has been receptive to Cook’s suggestions:
“Tim has a very good relationship with the president and rightly so. He has been playing a very careful role in that he obviously has a huge dependency on China but is also hugely important to the U.S. In general, he has a lot of respect because he’s not a public whiner, he’s not a crybaby, but comes with the real voice of reality. It’s no surprise to me that his suggestions are being well received.”
Here’s another tidbit on Trump and Cook’s relationship from today’s report:
Cook joined other tech executives in personally giving more than $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, and people close to the president say he respects the Apple chief. When venture capitalist Marc Andreessen first met Trump at his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, last year, the president-elect asked him what he thought of Cook, according to a separate person familiar with the dinner, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private talks. Andreessen responded that he was impressed by Cook’s leadership of the iPhone maker. Trump agreed, and told Andreessen that he appreciated how Cook met with him directly with no intermediaries, which has not been previously reported.
But while Apple has won a reprieve from tariffs, that peace of mind might be temporary. In an interview on Sunday, Lutnick said that the exemption from the reciprocal tariff isn’t a “permanent sort of exemption” and a broader plan will be announced “in a month or two.”
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