Four seas news, Beijing time, April 26 morning news, as the White House tried to avoid a trade war with China, U.S. President trump and two senior aides on Wednesday with Apple CEO Tim Cook (Tim Cook) to communicate trade issues.
In the recent Sino-U.S. trade dispute, cook has been calling on both sides to calm down, and has privately traveled to the Oval Office to talk with trump. He also spoke with Larry kudlow, a senior economic adviser to trump, and Robert Lighthizer, a US trade representative.
Trump plans to send representatives to China to negotiate to stop the trade war. If there is a real trade war between the two sides, it may damage apple, the world's number one technology company, and other hardware manufacturers that produce products in China.
Trump has threatened to release a new $100 billion list of tariffs that could target mobile phones, computers and other consumer electronics. China has retaliated against the initial $50 billion list.
The White House said the meeting with cook had been planned for two weeks, just before the official meeting, cook had attended Trump's first state dinner for French President Nicolas macarone and sat at the head table.
White House officials said the meeting was' good ', but no details were given.
Trump said earlier Wednesday he would like to see cook. "We talk about many things, including the unfair treatment that the United States has suffered from many countries over the years on trade issues. 'he said on twitter.
Cook is close to former U.S. President Barack Obama and has traveled to China at least three times since October last year.
Cook became one of Trump's favorite CEOs to mention in public speaking. It is surprising that their relationship is not harmonious. During the election, trump called on supporters to boycott apple and criticized the company for making products in China.
As president, trump referred to cook as a "good guy" and mentioned cook at least 10 times in his public speech, including this January's world economic forum in Davos and several important interviews.
Trump often uses the examples of cook and apple to illustrate that his tax cuts can create jobs, because they can help companies remit overseas profits back to the United States.
Trump has repeatedly said he will not see his presidency as a success unless Apple builds a factory in the United States.
Apple has a market capitalization of $835 billion and 123000 employees, of which 84000 are in the United States. In January, the company said it plans to spend $30 billion in capital expenditures in the United States over the next five years, of which $10 billion will be spent on building data centers.
Apple said the spending would create 20000 new jobs and recruit for existing campuses in Cupertino and Austin.
Cook also has a relationship with Trump's daughter and son-in-law, both senior White House advisers on technology training and government it modernization.
While praising cook, trump, a Republican, often clashes with the US technology industry, because Silicon Valley and Seattle, where technology companies are concentrated, are democratic strongholds. He also disagrees with the technology industry on trade, immigration and environmental issues.
Cook also criticized Trump's decision to end a law that would have prevented young immigrants from entering the country illegally as children from being forcibly deported.