President Donald Trump might've lost one BFF thanks to his spectacular falling out with Elon Musk, but don't worry, there are plenty more tech bros in his Rolodex. Despite him and Apple's Tim Cook also sharing a slightly troubled past, they seem to be closer than ever, with the White House being called out for supposedly helping Apple.
2025 has been a wild one in the tech world, especially after Donald Trump went to monetary war with his trade tariffs. The latest update has seen the President of the United States announce a 100% tariff on computer chips that are imported into the country.
It's all in an attempt to get the tech giants to move their manufacturing to home soil, but as we've covered before, it's not that simple for the likes of Apple, which has its manufacturing heavily tied to China, to just up sticks and build American. In fact, moving Apple's manufacturing chain to the USA could actually end up costing consumers a lot more.
Cook tried to get around this by potentially shifting focus to India instead of China, which left a disgruntled President warning of further retaliation.
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Jump forward to August 2025, and things couldn't be different as the pair appear to have smoothed things over.
With Cook and the POTUS shaking hands at the White House, Apple announced the new American Manufacturing Program (AMP) and committed itself to adding another $100 billion to its already whopping $500 billion pledge to invest in US manufacturing. The AMP will "increase its investment across America and incentivize global companies to manufacture even more critical components in the United States."
Cook was similarly buzzed, with a statement explaining: "Today, we’re proud to increase our investments across the United States to $600 billion over four years and launch our new American Manufacturing Program."
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Apple isn't without its rewards for bending the knee, as Trump similarly announced: "We’re going to be putting a very large tariff on chips and semiconductors but the good news for companies like Apple is that if you’re building or are committed to build in the United States, there will be no charge."
Still, after Cook presented Trump with a unique statue that contained 24K gold and then walked away with a tariff exemption, more than a few eyebrows were raised.
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Taking to X, one concerned onlooker said: "Apple CEO just gifted Trump a 1kg gold bar in exchange for a tariff exemption. Democracy is corrupt as f**k!"
Another added: "Tim Cook hands Trump a gold-plated iPhone on camera and walks away with 100% tariffs exemption. Call it what it is: a bribe dressed as a gift. Apple buys policy. Trump sells favors. This is how Western corruption works: shiny, shameless, and televised."
A third grumbled: "So let me get this straight: One of the richest CEOs on Earth walks into the White House, on live TV, hands the President a literal bar of gold like it’s some Renaissance bribe, and walks out with a tariff exemption worth billions."
By the looks of it, that little statue containing iPhone glass could be worth a lot more than what it cost to make in the long run.