(Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
- Tim Cook said that Apple's political strategy remains unchanged under the Biden administration.
- He explained in a new interview that the company focuses on policy over politics.
- Trump and Cook have had a well-publicized relationship, with Trump exempting Apple from some tariffs.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a podcast interview with journalist Kara Swisher that Apple employs much the same political strategy across both the Trump and Biden administrations.
"Our focus is not on the politics of it. It's on the policy," he said on the latest episode of the "Sway" podcast released Monday.
"That's what we did during President Trump's administration," he added. "That's what we'll be doing during President Biden's administration."
Cook made the remarks after Swisher asked him about his relationship with Trump, who has praised Cook in the past and said he is the only tech executive who called him directly. Trump also once called him "Tim Apple" – Cook said that he "leaned into it" and changed his Twitter name to Tim Apple for a time.
Cook also chose to not correct Trump in November of 2019, when Trump touted that a new Apple plant would be opening in Texas. He and Cook had toured a facility in Austin, and Trump tweeted about the factory, taking responsibility for opening it. However, the factory had been making Apple products since 2012.
The relationship between Cook and Trump made headlines during 2019's trade war with China, in which Cook asked Trump to exclude some Apple products from stricter tariffs on Chinese imports. Following Cook's lobbying and Trump promising to review whether the company should be exempt, Trump decided in December of 2019 that imports including the iPhone and MacBook would not be subject to the a 15% tariff.
After the attempted insurrection at the US Capitol in January, Cook said that Trump should be held accountable for his role in inciting violence.