Donald Trump welcomed Apple CEO Tim Cook for a Friday evening dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort, as confirmed by a source familiar with the event, who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Cook is the latest in a series of prominent tech executives—including OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos—who have been engaging with the incoming president to improve relations after tensions with Trump during his first term.
Trump has stated that his conversation with Cook included discussions about the company’s ongoing tax disputes with the European Union.
In an October interview with podcaster Patrick Bet-David, Trump recalled his conversation with Cook, stating, “He told me the European Union just fined us $15 billion.” He added, “And on top of that, they were hit with another $2 billion fine by the European Union.”
The EU’s top court’s ruling was the culmination of a debate that focused on sweetheart deals Dublin was making to entice multinational corporations with low tax rates throughout the 27-nation union. In 2016, the European Commission decided that Ireland had illegally given Apple help that Ireland needed to repay.
A request for comment regarding his dinner with Cook was not immediately answered by Apple or Trump’s transition staff.
The company stated on Friday that Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, intends to personally donate $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund. This week, Amazon and Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, also acknowledged contributing $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund.
Trump attacked Amazon and the political coverage at Bezos’s company, The Washington Post, during his first term. Trump’s previous remarks was questioned by Bezos. In a court battle in 2019, Amazon also claimed that Trump’s prejudice against the firm hurt its prospects of landing a $10 billion Pentagon contract.
Bezos has recently adopted a more accommodative stance. At The New York Times’ DealBook Summit in New York last week, he endorsed the president-elect’s promises to reduce regulations and expressed his optimism about Trump’s second term.
Meta CEO Zuckerberg met with Trump in private at Mar-a-Lago just weeks prior to the donation.
While Zuckerberg did not support a presidential candidate in the 2024 race, he did have a more favorable opinion of Trump. He commended Trump earlier this year for his response to his initial assassination attempt.
