![]() A couple weeks ago, Trump got several days of positive press coverage for a deal that saved 800 jobs at a Carrier factory in Indiana. Trump’s favorite bit of political theater is to hold an event with a business leader to announce the creation or preservation of American jobs. So it would be hugely helpful to Tim Cook if Donald Trump fast-tracks his corporate tax reform proposal while putting the China tariff on the back burner and going easy on Apple when it comes to iPhone hacking.Īnd Tim Cook has something he can give Trump in exchange: jobs. Under a Trump administration, law enforcement could put more pressure on Apple to help the government hack suspects’ iPhones. Trump was also harshly critical of Apple’s pro-privacy stance on iPhone encryption. That would likely include the iPhone and other Apple gadgets that are manufactured in China. Trump has called for slapping a 45 percent tariff on Chinese-made goods. Apple will save billions of dollars if he does.Ī couple of other Trump positions would be bad news for Apple. With Congress in Republican hands, Trump will have a real shot at enacting this proposal into law. Happily for Tim Cook, Trump’s campaign platform included a big cut in the corporate tax rate, from 35 percent to 15 percent. If Congress complies, Apple could bring its foreign cash home and pay the new rate not only on its new profits but also on overseas money it had left parked overseas while the higher rate was in effect. But Apple - and a number of other companies - have been lobbying Congress to reduce this rate. ![]() US tax law is based on the idea that Apple will eventually have to bring those profits home and pay corporate income taxes on them. As long as Apple leaves that cash overseas, it does not have to pay America’s high corporate income tax rate on it. Start with what Trump can offer to Apple: Apple has structured its international business so that most of the overseas profits pile up on the books of foreign subsidiaries. And Apple has something it can offer Trump, in turn, that would be hugely valuable: jobs. Several of the items on Donald Trump’s agenda - especially corporate tax breaks - could have a big impact on Apple’s bottom line, so it’s in Tim Cook’s interest to forge a working relationship with Trump. The forces pushing Trump and technology leaders into each other’s arms are strongest with Apple. Trump can help Apple and Apple can help Trump Apple CEO Tim Cook. But behind the scenes, they’ll be looking to forge relationships that could work to their mutual benefit. ![]() We shouldn’t expect either Trump or the tech leaders to issue more than vague platitudes in their comments immediately after the meeting. And while some in Silicon Valley have urged technology leaders to take a defiant tone in Wednesday’s meeting, elite business leaders tend to be more pragmatic. Trump and these tech leaders may not like each other, but there’s a lot they can do to help each other out. ![]() In contrast, Apple directly and indirectly employs a vast number of people - but most of them are in China assembling iPhones and other Apple gadgets. For companies like Google and Facebook, that’s because it just doesn’t take that many employees to run a collection of websites and apps. Top tech companies are some of the nation’s most valuable, yet they are responsible for relatively few jobs. But it’s also likely to be the first step toward developing a working relationship between Trump’s administration and an industry that wields outsized influence over the American economy and society. Silicon Valley moguls overwhelmingly backed Trump’s opponent in the November election, so the meeting is bound to be somewhat awkward. Today the leaders of America’s most important technology companies - including Google co-founder Larry Page, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos - will go to Trump Tower to meet with the president-elect.
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