On Wednesday, Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote a stinging letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook, highlighting what she describes as the “special carve-outs” which the company has been given by the Trump administration, and seeking clarification about the process by which these were secured.
“I write regarding my concerns about the extent to which you ‘went to work behind the scenes’ to obtain special exemptions from President Trump’s new tariffs earlier this month,” Warren says to Cook in a letter seen and covered by Bloomberg. Trump’s trade policies, she adds, “raise fresh concerns about influence-peddling by huge well-connected corporations, and their ability to gain special favors from President Trump.”
Despite being perceived as broadly progressive in political outlook (on social issues at least), Cook has been surprisingly supportive of Trump. The Apple boss reportedly donated $1m from his personal fortune to the committee for the president’s inauguration, which he attended, and has met with him and posed for photo opportunities on multiple occasions. Whether or not this friendly approach was intended to result in favorable treatment for Apple, it has been followed by some political wins, most notably the crucial exemption from this month’s punishing Chinese tariffs which could have seen the price of an iPhone balloon to more than $2,000.
“According to the Washington Post,” Warren goes on, “when the April 12 tariffs were announced by President Trump, you almost immediately ‘went to work behind the scenes,’ using your ‘very good relationship’ with President Trump and the Administration, contacting top Administration officials, and ultimately, successfully obtaining massive tariff carve-outs that President Trump himself noted, ‘helped Tim Cook… and that whole business.'”
At best, she argues, all of this “creates the appearance of impropriety,” as well as raising “serious questions about the extent to which it is possible for massive corporate special interests to use their money and influence to secure tariff exemptions that are unavailable to Main Street small businesses.” In this light, the senator concludes her letter by asking for details of any and all discussions between representatives of Apple and the Trump administration relating to the tariffs and promises of political or financial support, and an estimate of additional profits that Apple will gain from the exemption. Cook’s response to all of this is as yet unknown.