Trump Says Tim Cook Made 'Good Case' That Tariffs Would Put Apple at Disadvantage With Rivals Like Samsung - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Trump Says Tim Cook Made 'Good Case' That Tariffs Would Put Apple at Disadvantage With Rivals Like Samsung

Apple CEO Tim Cook and U.S. President Donald Trump met for dinner on Friday evening, and Trump has since told reporters that the two discussed the impact of U.S. tariffs on Apple products imported from China.

tim cook donald melania trump

Melania Trump, Donald Trump, and ‌Tim Cook‌ in August 2018

Trump said Cook "made a good case" that tariffs could put Apple at a disadvantage given that rival Samsung's products would be less impacted by the tariffs, according to Reuters. "I thought he made a very compelling argument, so I'm thinking about it," Trump said, speaking at an airport in Morristown, New Jersey.

The U.S. plans to impose an additional 10 percent tariff on approximately $300 billion of Chinese imports on September 1, but last week it delayed the tariff to December 15 for products including the iPhone, iPad, and MacBooks. Other products like the Apple Watch, AirPods, and HomePod are still set to be impacted September 1.

In a letter to the Trump administration in June, Apple urged against the tariffs, claiming that they would reduce the company's contribution to the U.S. economy and weigh on its global competitiveness.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Popular Stories

better iphone 17 lineup

Apple Bucks China's Smartphone Slump With 23% Sales Jump

Saturday March 21, 2026 5:54 am PDT by
Apple saw a 23% year-over-year increase in iPhone sales in China during the first nine weeks of 2026, significantly outperforming a broader market decline driven by weak demand and rising component costs, according to Counterpoint Research. China smartphone sales apparently fell by 4% year-over-year in the first nine weeks of 2026. Within this environment, Apple emerged as the...
Apple MacBook Pro M4 hero

Apple Bracing Display Supply Chain for Wave of New OLED Devices

Tuesday March 24, 2026 5:38 am PDT by
Apple is moving more decisively to reduce its reliance on Chinese manufacturers ahead of the launch of a wave of new products with OLED panels, DigiTimes reports. Apple has apparently accelerated efforts to diversify its OLED sourcing away from Chinese suppliers such as BOE, which have historically played an important role in the company's display supply chain. The impact on BOE has already...
Apple Intelligence General Feature 2

Apple Intelligence Accidentally Goes Live in China Before Regulatory Approval

Monday March 30, 2026 12:48 pm PDT by
Apple accidentally started rolling out Apple Intelligence features in China before receiving regulatory approval, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Some Chinese users began seeing Apple Intelligence features listed as available and active in the Settings app on their iPhones, but Apple made no formal announcement. Gurman says that Apple is not planning to launch the feature imminently, and...

Top Rated Comments

verpeiler Avatar
87 months ago
I wonder how it feels for Tim Cook to meet such a simple-minded person like president Trump, and actually having a conversation with him.
Score: 129 Votes (Like | Disagree)
A MacBook lover Avatar
87 months ago
It's stories like this that make it apparent how Trump hasn't managed to royally **** up the country the way so many of us expected him to. Don't get me wrong, the man is a total moron and a pompous ass, but as long as other, smarter people with rationale are able to keep him from destroying the economy (and the world) then all the better.

Hopefully we can keep it up until November of next year when we will restore some order and class to the White House.
Yet we have a booming economy. More jobs, low unemployment, and were finally standing up to a country that commits humanitarian atrocities, steals $300b in intellectual property, and cheats America for jobs.


China has stolen IP from Tesla ('https://electrek.co/2019/03/21/tesla-chinese-startup-xpeng-stole-autopilot-source-code-former-employee/'), this makes Tesla less competitive as Xpeng can undercut Tesla, as they didn’t have to invest millions in R&D, they just stole the source code.

China almost successfully stole IP from Apple ('https://www.macobserver.com/news/apple-employee-steals-ip-china/')

1 in 5 corporations have had some form of IP theft from China in last year.


('https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/28/1-in-5-companies-say-china-stole-their-ip-within-the-last-year-cnbc.html')
Score: 83 Votes (Like | Disagree)
87 months ago
Free market capitalist my @$$. The idea that Tim Cook needs to plead with he top elected official of his own government in the hopes that he'll protect his rights, when that's his only proper function as President is an abominable state for this country occupy. What a shameful "leader."
Score: 82 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CrazyForApple Avatar
87 months ago
President Trump is the man! Tim Cook, not so much.
Score: 62 Votes (Like | Disagree)
A MacBook lover Avatar
87 months ago
Hey, let me know how that "booming economy" is going in a year or so.
Said in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019.
Score: 55 Votes (Like | Disagree)
technole Avatar
87 months ago
Tim Apple working to keep shareholders happy, good to see regardless of his affiliation he's willing to make his case the right way.
Score: 44 Votes (Like | Disagree)