Apple CEO Tim Cook managed to forge a personal relationship with Donald Trump during his first Presidential term that other tech firms struggled to replicate. Now, others are trying to follow his template, says a Wall Street Journal report today.
Cook used direct appeals to influence Trump’s 2017 tax policy and to get him to dial back his 2019 tariffs in ways that benefitted Apple. In exchange, Trump got to look good; as the Journal points out, Cook didn’t correct Trump when claimed responsibility for Apple opening an Austin manufacturing plant that had already been around for years and wasn’t even owned by Apple.
Part of Cook’s strategy was keeping things simple, according to the Journal:
Instead of sending government relations executives or lobbyists, Cook would appeal to Trump directly through phone calls and meals, said people familiar with the interactions.
Cook then developed a meeting strategy with Trump where he would bring one data point to home in on a single issue in a meeting, the people said. That approach helped keep the meetings from spiraling in too many directions.
Cook partly built the relationship by “zeroing in on areas of mutual interest between Apple and Trump’s agenda,” writes the Journal. “Plenty hope to follow Cook’s playbook,” the outlet adds.
WSJ points to leaders of Boeing and FedEx who have both tried talking with Trump directly. Others have reportedly considered getting through to him by communicating through the Department of Government Efficiency that Trump rewarded Elon Musk with leading after he aggressively backed Trump’s campaign.
Some of the biggest tech leaders seem keen on taking the flattery route. Trump has claimed that Google CEO Sundar Pichai reached out to tell him about his trending Google searches and that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had called him “a lot” to pledge his support and praise his reaction to an attempt to assassinate him.