While denying he ever changes his mind, Trump has now said he helped out Apple with tariffs because of conversations withTim Cook.Itās up there with night follows day, but Trump has now effectively confirmed that it was after speaking with Tim Cook that hechanged his tariffs. His statement has to be defined as effectively, because he was typically unclear and attempting to sound as if he were sticking flawlessly to his original tariff plan."Look, Iām a very flexible person. I donāt change my mind, but Iām flexible,"he saidto reporters while officially meeting with El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. āAnd you have to be.āāYou just canāt have a wall and youāll only goā¦ sometimes you have to go around it, under it or above it,ā he continued. āThereāll be maybe things coming upā¦ I speak to Tim Cook.āāI helped Tim Cook recently,ā said Trump. "And that whole business. I donāt want to hurt anybody."Apple gained its massive āif not completeā tariff exemption in a surprise announcement on Friday. The world reaction was then that Trump had backed down from his insistence that there would be be no exemptions, so naturally there was then pushback from the White House.By Sunday, Trump was denying that there had been any exemption and re-framed it as changing from one type of tariff to another. He further had his commerce secretary Howard Lutnick explicitly say that Appleās exemption or exception or whatever the latest synonym is, would only be short term.It was a clear and firm commitment that wasnāt clear. The closest to a commitment Lutnick gave was that the exemption or exception or relief for Apple would be over "in a month or two."While Lutnick wonāt commit to a schedule and Trump is adamantly stating that āthere was no Tariff āexceptionā,ā the one certainty about the tariff exception is that Tim Cook asked for it. Cook has famously been one of the few business leaders who has beenpraised by Trump, although he called him "Tim Apple."Cook was once described bySteve Jobsas not being a āproduct person,ā but heās unquestionably a politician. He apparently kept the working relationship going with Trump before the last election, and he is confirmed to have personallydonated $1 millionto the presidentās inauguration.
Itās up there with night follows day, but Trump has now effectively confirmed that it was after speaking with Tim Cook that hechanged his tariffs. His statement has to be defined as effectively, because he was typically unclear and attempting to sound as if he were sticking flawlessly to his original tariff plan.
"Look, Iām a very flexible person. I donāt change my mind, but Iām flexible,"he saidto reporters while officially meeting with El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. āAnd you have to be.ā
āYou just canāt have a wall and youāll only goā¦ sometimes you have to go around it, under it or above it,ā he continued. āThereāll be maybe things coming upā¦ I speak to Tim Cook.ā
āI helped Tim Cook recently,ā said Trump. āAnd that whole business. I donāt want to hurt anybody.ā
Apple gained its massive āif not completeā tariff exemption in a surprise announcement on Friday. The world reaction was then that Trump had backed down from his insistence that there would be be no exemptions, so naturally there was then pushback from the White House.
By Sunday, Trump was denying that there had been any exemption and re-framed it as changing from one type of tariff to another. He further had his commerce secretary Howard Lutnick explicitly say that Appleās exemption or exception or whatever the latest synonym is, would only be short term.
It was a clear and firm commitment that wasnāt clear. The closest to a commitment Lutnick gave was that the exemption or exception or relief for Apple would be over āin a month or two.ā
While Lutnick wonāt commit to a schedule and Trump is adamantly stating that āthere was no Tariff āexceptionā,ā the one certainty about the tariff exception is that Tim Cook asked for it. Cook has famously been one of the few business leaders who has beenpraised by Trump, although he called him āTim Apple.ā
Cook was once described bySteve Jobsas not being a āproduct person,ā but heās unquestionably a politician. He apparently kept the working relationship going with Trump before the last election, and he is confirmed to have personallydonated $1 millionto the presidentās inauguration.