Tim Cook gifted President Trump a $6,000 Mac Pro after he lowered tariffs on parts Apple needed from China
President Trump tours Apple Mac Pro facility with CEO Tim Cook in Austin, Texas on Wednesday, November 21, 2019
Bloomberg Businessweek recently sat down with former U.S. President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort for an exclusive interview. It also reported that Apple CEO Tim Cook gave Trump a $5,999 Mac Pro in 2019 after they struck a deal that granted Apple an exemption from import tariffs on parts made in China.
“I can’t believe how many people are negative on tariffs that are actually smart. Man, is it good for negotiation.” – former U.S. President Donald Trump
Nancy Cook, Joshua Green, and Mario Parker for Bloomberg Businessweek:
In 2019, Apple Inc. looked set to be a victim of Trump’s trade war with China, with billions of dollars at stake, as the president announced 25% import tariffs. He then publicly rejected Apple’s request for an exclusion. “Apple will not be given Tariff waiver, or relief, for Mac Pro parts that are made in China,” he wrote on Twitter. “Make them in the USA, no Tariffs!”
At Mar-a-Lago, Trump speaks fondly of Cook and reveals how Apple’s CEO persuaded him to relent. He recalls Cook reaching out privately and asking, “Could I come in and see you?” Trump appreciated the gesture of respect from the head of what at the time was the world’s most valuable company. “That’s impressive,” Trump says. “I said, ‘Yeah, come in.’” Trump remembers that Cook was straightforward. “He said to me, ‘I need help, you have tariffs of 25% and 50% [on Apple products imported from China],’” he recalls. “He said, ‘It would really hurt our business. It would destroy our business, potentially.’” (An Apple spokesperson declined to comment.)
Trump wasn’t looking to do that —mainly, he wanted to demonstrate that he could bring manufacturing jobs back to the US, as he’d promised to do. In his telling, he prevailed upon Cook to expand domestic production. “I said, ‘I’m gonna do something for you guys,’” Trump recalls, “‘but you have to build in this country.’” Four months later, Apple announced it was beginning construction on a campus in Austin. The press release quoted Cook saying: “Building the Mac Pro, Apple’s most powerful device ever, in Austin is both a point of pride and a testament to the enduring power of American ingenuity.” Cook then gifted Trump a $5,999 Mac Pro, one of the first made at the Texas factory.
Had Trump forced Cook’s hand? Doubtful. Apple had originally announced a year earlier that it would invest $1 billion in a new Austin campus, and Mac Pros had been assembled at existing Texas facilities since the Obama era. Nevertheless, the episode registered as a positive for Trump and established Cook at the opposite end of his personal CEO continuum from Zuckerberg. It also created a potential road map for how tech CEOs might navigate a second Trump term.
“I found him to be a very good businessman,” he says of Cook.
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MacDailyNews Note: In addition, as we reported on November 20, 2019, during “the visit, Apple presented President Trump with a custom engraved, laser-etched Mac Pro bottom plate.
This is live, raw video taken during the visit (some language among the photographers and videographers might be NSFW):
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