The new president of the USA, Donald Trump, announced at the celebration rally held in Washington that technology giant Apple is planning a major investment in the USA. According to Trump, Apple CEO Tim Cook stated that they will make this investment depending on Trump’s election success. Cook’s statement seems to be part of the recent efforts of technology leaders, who have previously maintained a distant relationship with Trump, to strengthen cooperation with the president. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Alphabet/Google CEO Sundar Pichai also recently held meetings with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
This statement by Trump brought to mind another claim he made during his presidency in 2017. At that time, Trump said that Apple would establish “three large factories, very beautiful facilities” in the USA. However, Apple denied Trump’s claims and stated that they had no such plans. Therefore, doubts have been cast about Cook’s current promises. While Apple has not yet made an official comment regarding Trump’s new statements, it is observed that technology leaders are more willing to cooperate with Trump, according to Fox Business News.
The fact that Tim Cook served on the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board during Trump’s first term shows that the two leaders can find common ground on certain issues. This situation also contributed to Apple suffering less damage, especially in the trade wars between China and the USA. At that time, the iPhone’s exemption from customs tariffs provided a significant gain for Apple.
Staying close to the Trump administration appears to have become part of the business strategy for companies like Apple. The fact that Apple was not harmed during the most intense period of trade wars with China makes such a relationship more meaningful. In addition, the fact that technology giants are trying to create a more harmonious working atmosphere with the Trump administration suggests that they expect positive results from this cooperation.
Technology giants are willing to cooperate with Donald Trump administration
The recent meeting of leaders of companies such as Meta, Amazon and Google with Trump shows that these companies are more willing to cooperate with the Trump administration in the new period. However, the question of whether the main motivation for this rapprochement is strategic or purely commercial concerns still awaits an answer.
The impact of the relations developed by major technology companies in the USA with the Trump administration on both commercial interests and public policies may emerge more clearly in the coming period.