Former President Donald Trump claims Apple CEO Tim Cook called him recently complaining about the European Union’s fines against his company.
During a podcast interview with Patrick Bet-David, the GOP nominee told the host he had a good relationship with the longtime leader of Apple, adding that Cook called him just before the interview.
Trump also claimed that if Steve Jobs had continued to run Apple instead Cook then the company would not have been as successful.
“I believe that if Tim Cook didn’t run Apple, if Steve Jobs did, it wouldn’t — maybe it would be successful — but it wouldn’t be nearly as successful,” Trump told Bet-David. “I think Tim Cook’s done an amazing job. And I’m not knocking Steve Jobs.”
The former president also said that during their recent phone call Cook complained about a $2 billion fine.
Back in March, the EU levied a $2 billion fine on Apple due to the company’s control over music streaming industry via the App Store. Moreover, the EU also won a legal battle to make Apple pay nearly $15 billion in unpaid taxes.
But then two hours ago, three hours ago, he called me, he said, I’d like to talk to you about something…He said, the European Union has just fined us $15 billion. I said that’s a lot. I know the feeling because I get fined too, and fake cases. But I don’t know if his case is fake yet, but it’s a lot. Then on top of that, they got fined by the European Union. Another 2 billion. So it’s a 17 to $18 billion fine. I even said about Apple, can you pay that? I mean, do you have that? That’s a lot of money. And he said something was interesting. He said, they’re using that to run their enterprise, meaning Europe is their enterprise. And I said this a lot. I said, 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.
Watch the clip above via the Patrick Bet-David Podcast.
Have a tip for us? tips@mediaite.com
