Trump welcomes Apple chief to Mar-a-Lago as prime tech leaders attain out to him

Donald Trump hosted Apple Chief Government Tim Cook dinner for dinner Friday night on the US president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago resort, sources mentioned.

Mr Cook dinner is the most recent in a string of prime tech leaders – together with OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos – who’ve sought to enhance their standing with the brand new US chief after stormy relations with Mr. Trump throughout his first time period.

Mr. Trump mentioned he spoke with Mr. Cook dinner in regards to the firm’s long-running tax battles with the European Union.

The assembly comes lower than two months after Mr. Trump mentioned he spoke to Mr. Cook dinner by cellphone, and shortly after Apple misplaced its newest attraction in a dispute with the EU over 13 billion euros (10, £7 billion) in tax arrears to Eire.

“He mentioned the European Union had simply fined us $15 billion,” Mr. Trump recalled of his dialog with Mr. Cook dinner, in an October interview with podcaster Patrick Wager-David. “As well as, they had been fined a further two billion {dollars} by the European Union.”

The choice by the EU’s prime courtroom ended a dispute centered on sweetheart offers Dublin provided to draw multinational firms with minimal taxes to the 27-nation bloc.

The European Fee dominated in 2016 that Eire had given Apple unlawful help which Eire was required to get better.

Mr. Trump’s transition workforce and Apple didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon his dinner with Mr. Cook dinner.

OpenAI chief Mr Altman plans to make a private donation of $1 million (£791,000) to Mr Trump’s inauguration fund, the corporate has confirmed.

Amazon and Meta, the father or mother firm of Fb and Instagram, confirmed this week that they every donated $1 million to Mr. Trump’s inaugural fund.

Throughout his first time period, Mr. Trump criticized Amazon and railed towards the political protection of the Washington Put up, which Mr. Bezos owns.

In the meantime, Mr Bezos had criticized some previous speeches by Mr Trump. In 2019, Amazon additionally argued in courtroom that Mr Trump’s bias towards the corporate was harming its possibilities of successful a $10bn (£7.9bn) Pentagon contract ).

Extra just lately, Mr. Bezos has adopted a extra conciliatory tone. Final week, he informed the New York Occasions DealBook Summit in New York that he was “optimistic” about Mr. Trump’s second time period, whereas endorsing the president-elect’s plans to chop laws.

Meta’s donation got here simply weeks after Meta supremo Mr. Zuckerberg met privately with Mr. Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

Throughout the 2024 marketing campaign, Mr. Zuckerberg didn’t endorse any presidential candidate, however expressed a extra constructive stance towards Mr. Trump.

Earlier this 12 months, he praised Mr Trump’s response to his first assassination try.