In a high-stakes balancing act, Apple CEO Tim Cook is rejecting political labels while aggressively aligning his company with the Trump administration’s “America First” economic agenda.
Highlighting a massive $600 billion investment in U.S. operations, Cook defended his proximity to the White House as a necessary pursuit of pro-growth policy — even as he faces a firestorm from the left over his attendance at the “Melania” documentary screening.
“You were at the inauguration last year, just feet from the president. You gave him a nice gift at the White House. You were at the screening of ‘Melania,’ the documentary for the First Lady. There’s so many people [who] say you’re really close to the administration, and you’re being criticized for that,” “Good Morning America” co-host Michael Strahan told Cook during an interview discussing Apple’s 50th anniversary.
“Well, what I do is I interact on policy, not politics,” Cook responded.
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“I’m not a political person on either side. I’m not political. And so I’m kind of straight down the middle, and I focus on policy,” the CEO continued. “And so, I’m very pleased that the president and the administration is accessible to talk about policy.”
Apple has openly been collaborating with President Donald Trump to reshore critical supply chains and move away from overseas reliance, aiming to secure a made-in-America future that hedges against global trade volatility. Cook further discussed the leading tech company’s $600 billion commitment to the domestic economy over the next four years.
“If you looked at your iPhone today, the front cover and the back cover, all of that glass will be coming out of Kentucky by the end of this year. The engine, the system on a chip, we’re gonna make over 100 million of those in Arizona this year,” Cook said.
“We’re going to make over 20 billion semiconductors in the U.S. And again, this is not only for the U.S. market-sold iPhones, it’s for worldwide iPhones,” he added. “We’ve invested more in the U.S. Absolutely. We’re a very proud American company and want to do as much here as we possibly can.”
As Apple approaches its 50th birthday on April 1, Cook also took the opportunity to shut down speculation that he is preparing to step down as CEO.
“I haven’t said that,” he clarified. “That’s a rumor going around.”
“Here’s the way I look at it: I love what I do deeply. 28 years ago, I walked into Apple, and I’ve loved every day of it since… I can’t imagine life without Apple.”
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