US presidential candidate Donald Trump said Apple CEO Tim Cook called him to discuss billions of dollars in fines the company has faced in the European Union. Trump made the announcement during a taping of the PBD Podcast, adding that if re-elected as president of the United States, he would not allow the European Union to “take advantage of” American companies such as Apple.
Tim Cook / Image Source: Apple
«Two or three hours ago [Cook] called me. He said the European Union just fined us $15 billion. Then the European Union fined them another $2 billion,” said Donald Trump. Recall that in March, the European Union fined Apple about $2 billion for using its dominant position in the music streaming market for iOS to suppress competition. The European Union later won the fight to force Apple to pay $14.4 billion in unpaid taxes.
«[Cook] said something interesting. He said that they use this to manage their enterprise, meaning that Europe is their enterprise. I said, ‘That’s a lot, but Tim, I have to get elected first, but I’m going to not let them take advantage of our companies – you know that’s not going to happen,'” Trump added. Apple officials have not yet commented on this issue.