Apple’s CEO has shifted from receiving praise from President Trump to drawing his criticism, further complicating what has already been a difficult year for the company.
Ahead of President Trump’s recent trip to the Middle East, the White House encouraged CEOs and representatives from numerous U.S. companies to join the delegation. However, Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, opted not to attend, according to two sources familiar with the decision.
This choice seemed to frustrate President Trump. As he traveled from Saudi Arabia to the United Arab Emirates, Trump took several jabs at Cook.
During a speech in Riyadh, Trump paused to commend Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, for accompanying the White House delegation, but then took a swipe at Cook.
“I mean, Tim Cook isn’t here but you are,” Trump said to Huang at an event attended by other top executives such as Larry Fink of BlackRock, Sam Altman of OpenAI, Jane Fraser of Citigroup, and Lisa Su of AMD.
Later in Qatar, Trump remarked that he “had a little problem with Tim Cook.” While praising Apple’s investments in the U.S., he added, “But now I hear you’re building all over India. I don’t want you building in India.”