Here’s What Apple CEO Tim Cook Said to Trump at the White House Dinner

Apple CEO Tim Cook joined President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, and other tech leaders at a White House dinner on Thursday, where he praised the administration’s focus on innovation, education, and support for American companies.

After hearing from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Trump next went to Cook, who was sitting to the right of the latter.

“Tim Cook, you’ve done an incredible job with Apple. A little company called Apple,” joked Trump. “Thank you Mr. President,” said Cook. “Very few people have been able to do what you’ve done. Congratulations,” said the President.

“Thank you, sir. That means a lot to me. I want to thank you for including me this evening. It’s incredible to be among everyone here, particularly you and the First Lady. I’ve always enjoyed having dinner and interacting,” Cook said.

Cook credited Trump’s leadership for creating the conditions that allowed Apple to expand in the U.S. “I want to thank you for setting the tone such that we could make a major investment in the United States and have some key manufacturing, advanced manufacturing here. I think that says a lot about your focus and your leadership and your focus on innovation.”

He also pointed to the administration’s international efforts: “I also want to thank you for helping American companies around the world. This is a very key, key thing. And I really enjoy working with your administration on those topics as well because I think they’re so important to the country.”

Cook also praised Melania Trump’s education work, saying: “I want to thank the First Lady for focusing on education. There’s nothing more important than education. It is the great equalizer and always will be.”

He added: “We are all different in some ways, but we all believe in the power of technology to improve people’s lives. And that is the thing that binds us all together.”

Trump afterwards asked Cook on Apple’s plans: “And, Tim, how much money will Apple be investing in the United States? Because I know it’s a very loud…You were elsewhere and now you’re really coming home in a big way. How much money will you be investing?”

Cook replied: “$600 billion,” to which Trump replied, “$600 billion. That’s a lot of jobs.” Cook responded: “We’re very proud to do it.” The $600 billion jobs announcement was made last month.

“That’s great. Thank you very much,” Trump concluded. “Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you, sir,” Cook said.

The White House dinner event with these tech leaders was referred to as the ‘Rose Garden Club’ by the White House. It took place in the newly renovated Rose Garden patio and followed an AI-focused presentation led by the First Lady.

Other CEOs at the event included Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Google’s Sundar Pichai, and AMD’s Lisa Su. Tesla CEO Elon Musk who also runs his AI startup xAI was not invited, likely as he has had a falling out with Trump and also has an active lawsuit against Apple and the App Store.