Donald Trump: “I will defend Apple from European fines”

In a recent interview with PBD Podcast, Republican US Presidential candidate Donald Trump revealed that he received a phone call from Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, to discuss the large fines the company is facing in the European Union. During the speech, Trump said that, if re-elected, he will not allow the EU to “take advantage” of American companies like Apple. “Two or three hours ago, Tim Cook called me,” Trump said. “He told me that the European Union just fined them $15 billion. And then, on top of that, they received another 2 billion fine.”

The sanctions Trump is referring to are linked to a series of disputes between Apple and the EU. Last March, in fact, Apple was fined around $2 billion, after European authorities determined that the company had abused its dominant position to limit the ability of music streaming apps to inform their users about better offers. convenient outside the App Store. Additionally, the EU won a legal battle forcing Apple to pay $14.4 billion in unpaid taxes.

According to Trump, Cook made significant comments about the EU’s role in its relationship with big American technology companies. “Cook told me they are using these fines to fund their economy,” Trump said. “I won’t let them continue to take advantage of our companies, it won’t happen.” Despite these statements, Apple has yet to publicly respond to Trump’s claims or provide official comment on the matter.

This phone call appears to fit into a broader pattern of interactions between Trump and key tech leaders. In previous interviews, Trump revealed that he also spoke with Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO, to express his displeasure with the “bad stories” that he said appear in search results. Similarly, Elon Musk recently attended a Trump rally in Pennsylvania, while Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly contacted the former president several times over the summer.