Tech CEOs look to Apple's Tim Cook approach for building ties with President-elect Trump

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Skye Jacobs

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TL;DR: A new administration is taking over Washington DC, and business executives are eager to cultivate favor with President-elect Donald Trump. Known for his tight inner circle, execs wonder how to approach Trump and build a relationship with him. But it seems Apple CEO Tim Cook has cracked the code.

In the complicated world where US politics and business intersect, Apple CEO Tim Cook has managed to forge a unique and influential relationship with President-elect Donald Trump.

This relationship, cultivated through strategic interactions and shared interests, serves as a blueprint for other tech leaders – albeit one that may be difficult to replicate.

Cook's approach to building a rapport with Trump has focused on direct engagement, bypassing traditional lobbying channels. Instead of delegating interactions to government relations executives or lobbyists, Cook personally reached out to Trump through phone calls and private dinners. This hands-on approach allowed Cook to establish a connection with Trump, which many other corporate leaders have struggled to achieve.

One of Cook's key strategies was to focus on areas where Apple's interests aligned with Trump's agenda. By identifying common ground, Cook was able to foster a mutually beneficial relationship, and during Trump's first term, Cook successfully advocated for Apple's interests in several high-stakes policy discussions.

For example, in 2017, as Trump was formulating a tax-cut plan, Cook seized the opportunity to propose that Apple would increase its US investments if allowed to repatriate $250 billion in overseas cash at a reduced tax rate. This proposal aligned with Trump's economic goals and was later cited by Trump as a success story of his tax policy.

Cook's most significant victory came in 2019 when Apple faced a potential 10 percent tariff on imports from China. Worried about the impact such tariffs would have on iPhone prices and Apple's competitive position against foreign rivals like Samsung, Cook personally lobbied Trump. His efforts paid off when the Trump administration announced it would scale back its tariff plan, exempting a range of electronics, including the iPhone.

Then there was the time Trump visited an Apple manufacturing site in Austin, Texas, with Cook. Although the plant had been operational for years under a contractor, Trump claimed credit for its opening – a statement neither Cook nor Apple corrected.

Trump has publicly praised Cook for his direct engagement strategy. "That's why he's a great executive because he calls me and others don't," Trump said in 2019.

Even before Trump's recent electoral victory, Cook resumed his engagement efforts. On a podcast in October, Trump mentioned that Cook had reached out regarding Apple's legal challenges in Europe. "I'm not going to let them take advantage of our companies," Trump reportedly assured Cook.

Despite these successes, replicating Cook's playbook may prove challenging for other executives. Few companies possess the brand recognition and influence of Apple or its CEO. According to industry insiders, gaining access to Trump's inner circle is particularly difficult without an existing relationship.

Ron Williams, former CEO of health insurer Aetna and current board member at companies such as Warby Parker, told the Wall Street Journal that engaging with political leaders has both benefits and risks. "Anytime you can build a relationship with someone, you are advantaged," Williams told the publication. However, he cautioned that such engagements require careful consideration of potential outcomes.

Williams shared his experiences of providing fact-based insights to government officials during his tenure at Aetna. "Developing relationships takes time and strategy," he said, advising executives to weigh whether direct engagement or working through intermediaries is more effective.

Some executives are turning to trade groups or hiring lobbyists with established connections to Trump's circle. Others are considering proposing ideas directly to new government entities like the Department of Government Efficiency led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

Alternative strategies are also being explored. One technology CEO plans to leverage venture capital investors within Trump's orbit rather than rely solely on traditional lobbying firms.

However, not all efforts have the desired results. FedEx chairman Fred Smith recounted to the WSJ his attempts to influence Trump's views on globalization and tariffs without success. Despite their differing perspectives, Smith described Trump as "a very nice fellow, one-on-one."

As corporate leaders navigate these dynamics, Cook's approach remains a reference point. In a recent social media post congratulating Trump on his win, Cook signaled his intention to continue their relationship: "We look forward to engaging with you and your administration."

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Tech CEOs look to Apple's Tim Cook approach for building ties with President-elect Trump

 
The "hands-on approach" here is peak Tim Cook energy. Cook's playing 4D chess while most execs are still setting up the board.
 
Here's a post nobody will like but anyway: Tim Cook and virtually all other sillion valley luminaries have more in common with Elon Musk than you all think. They only seem better because unlike Musk they're not going through personal life issues that bled into their already fragile public persona but as a business decision fundamentally there is no difference between Cook and Musk.

Vitriol on 'bowing down to Trump' is quite useless: He wouldn't have made it to a second term and skated through all of his confirmed criminal convictions if most if not virtually *ALL* CEOs were not fully behind the actual decisions that matter to them. The trick is that when it comes to business, there is NO DIFFERENCE between the GOP and the DNC they're just as likely to open the door to the same policies they like so if you want to be mad at someone, reserve equal parts of your anger to the DNC party that's just as predatory of worker rights and the working class in general because they would rather lose than give up their Neoliberal ideals of 'Make sure everybody who's not a millionaire dies working for my 5th yatch' line of business that again, is exactly the same from that of the GOP and at best just removes some of the racist rhethoric for *SOME* of the public consumption.

Issues of personal freedom, immigration, etc. Basically have just about zero impact for Apple. Even controversial business decisions like tariffs are of fairly little consequence if they're actually implemented on a scale large and wide enough to affect Apple, which they wont: there's going to be easily-to-manipulate loopholes specially for mega corporations to just build 99% of the phone overseas, have a firmware put in on the same US based warehouse where they box the thing and call it 'Assembled in the US' and keep on going.
 
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Our country is so politicized that the Liberal Elites that run the DNC are still NOT finding out how the A**Hole won the first time. They have no concept of why 50% of Americans would vote for the A**Hole because their policies of Big Government is the solution to every problem when all of their big government policies (I.e. the Average Person is too Dumb to make their own decisions so we need to make the bottom half of the income scale so dependent on the useless Socialist Ideas (Universal Health Care, Enhanced Child tax credits, Food Stamps, Free School Lunches, Paid Family Leave, Cheap/Free Child care, etc.) and all the other Socialist ideas that are currently bankrupting Europe to bankrupt the United States. People still have choices in this country and they are making them by moving from High Tax, Expensive Blue States to lower Tax, lower cost of living Red States and with education choices that give them the money to get their children educated on their terms rather than the failed models of Randi Weingarten and her unionized zombies that have our education system that produces children that can't read, write or do basic arithmetic. So, while Trump will probably ruin the economy with his bad Tariff ideas in a misguided attempt to bring manufacturing back to the US (we are way past the point of most manufacturing being cost effective in the US) while his attempts to reinvent government will probably go the way of every Republican attempt since and including Reagan. We are already too far gone in terms of the size of the Federal Debt where the only thing that will fix it is running into a wall and forcing a reorganization of our debt (currently at 120% of GDP and debt service of $850 billion being greater than the defense budget). The debt wall (or better illustrated by the idea of a fly hitting a wind shield at 60 mph) will force reorganization of Social Security and Medicare (which has too many constituents dependent on to reorganize without a true crisis) to get our debt on a proper path to fiscal sustainability). And, just to finish on a high note, getting us off the Climate Change idiocy (I.e. the only way forward is Renewables and EVs for all) to a path that includes Nuclear as a primary energy source, Natural gas replacing coal as secondary energy source until Renewables settle in as minor power source of 15-20% of total energy use with Nuclear providing 60-80% of primary (in some countries Geothermal and Hydro are also feasible as primary). Well, I'm sure I've pi**ed off 80% of readers so Fights On (as we used to say in my military days).
 
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