Trump says Apple's Tim Cook won him over with one phone call
President Donald Trump offered an unusual public tribute this week to outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook, praising Cook's leadership while bluntly recounting how the two men built a working relationship.
In a post Tuesday on Truth Social, Trump called Cook "an incredible guy" and said the relationship began early in his first term, when Cook called with what Trump described as "a fairly large problem that only I, as President, could fix."
Trump then described the moment in coarser terms, writing that he was "very impressed" to have the head of Apple calling him to "kiss my ass."
The post offered a rare public glimpse into the direct, highly personal way Cook dealt with Trump while running one of Silicon Valley's most important companies.
For years, Cook was viewed as one of the tech industry's most effective intermediaries with Trump, particularly on tariffs, manufacturing and other policies that could affect Apple's global supply chain.
Apple announced Monday that Cook will step down as chief executive on Sept. 1 and become executive chairman of the company's board. John Ternus, Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering, will succeed him as CEO.
Apple said Cook will remain in the role through the summer to help manage the transition and, as executive chairman, will continue "engaging with policymakers around the world."
It appears that even after leaving the CEO role, Cook will probably remain involved in the sort of government-facing work that helped define part of his tenure, especially as Apple navigated Washington on trade and industrial policy.
Cook's relationship with Trump often drew attention because it differed from the more openly adversarial posture many tech executives took during Trump's first term.
Cook instead cultivated a direct line to the president, an approach that sometimes produced public appearances together and tangible policy wins for Apple.
In August 2025, for example, Cook joined Trump at the White House to gift the president with an Apple plaque with a 24-karat gold base and announce an expansion of Apple's U.S. manufacturing investment, saying the company would raise its domestic commitment to $600 billion over four years.
That relationship was never simple. Trump publicly threatened Apple over overseas manufacturing last year, warning that iPhones not made in the U.S. could face tariffs of at least 25%.
Still, in Tuesday's post, Trump wrote that he saw Cook as both an effective executive and a savvy operator. He wrote that after "3 or 4 BIG HELPS," he came to tell people that Cook was "an amazing manager and leader."
He closed by calling Cook's career "almost incomparable."
Cook, who became Apple's CEO in 2011 after Steve Jobs stepped aside, is leaving after a nearly 15-year run in which Apple expanded beyond the iPhone into products including the Apple Watch, AirPods and Vision Pro, while also building a far larger services business.
Apple said this week that annual revenue rose from $108 billion in fiscal 2011 to more than $416 billion in fiscal 2025, and that its market value grew from about $350 billion to roughly $4 trillion during Cook's tenure.
Cook has not commented about Trump's latest remarks. But in a recent interview with Esquire marking Apple's 50th anniversary, Cook said the Trump administration was "very accessible" and argued that leaders need to "interact and engage with everyone," even when they disagree.
"Until you engage, you never know - you never understand - where somebody else is coming from," Cook said. "And you have no influence at all."
In the same interview, Cook said Apple's core values had not changed.
"If you went in my conference room, you would see the Teddy Roosevelt quote, ‘It is not the critic who counts,'" he added. "I've never believed that just yelling from the sideline about plus or minus was a good strategy. Your voice just goes into the wind."
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This story was originally published April 23, 2026 at 7:05 PM.