Apple CEO Tim Cook visited Mar-a-Lago on Friday, joining a growing list of technology executives believed to be courting President-elect Trump ahead of his return to the White House.
Multiple media outlets reported that the president-elect and Cook had dinner at Trump’s resort in West Palm Beach, Florida. This meeting was their first interaction since their phone call two months ago.
During an appearance on Patrick Bet-David’s podcast in mid-October, the president-elect said Apple executives discussed the fines imposed on the company by the European Union.
“And two hours ago, three hours ago, he called me,” Trump said. “He said, ‘I want to talk to you.’ ‘What?’ He said, ‘The European Union just fined us $15 billion.’ That’s a lot. ”
The Hill has reached out to Apple and the Trump transition team for comment.
Big tech executives have been working in recent months to strengthen ties with the president-elect ahead of last month’s election victory.
Several tech companies have offered to donate after Trump’s transition team unveiled perks for inauguration sponsors.
OpenAI’s Sam Altman will personally donate $1 million to President Trump’s inaugural fund, his spokesperson confirmed to The Hill on Friday.
Amazon, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, also plans to donate $1 million to the next president’s inauguration. The e-commerce giant will also make an in-kind donation of $1 million by streaming the Jan. 20 ceremony through Prime Video.
President Trump said he would meet next week with Bezos, the billionaire owner of the Washington Post, a newspaper he has long criticized.
Like Amazon and Altman, Meta has already donated $1 million to President Trump’s inaugural fund, just weeks after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg visited Mar-a-Lago. The technology company later spoke to The Hill on Thursday.
Cook was one of many technology leaders to congratulate Trump on his victory over Vice President Harris in last month’s election.
“I look forward to working with you and your administration to ensure America continues to lead and promote ingenuity, innovation, and creativity,” he said in a post on social platform X. .
