Donald Trump claimed he received a call from Apple CEO Tim Cook on Thursday and the technology chief shared his concerns about the European Union.
He said Cook told him he was concerned about recent sanctions imposed by the European Union. Apple ordered to pay Ireland Unpaid taxes for September amounted to €13bn (£11bn, $14bn).
Trump, who is running as the Republican candidate for the next U.S. presidential election, made the claim in a podcast released Thursday.
The BBC has asked Apple for answers.
Trump told host Patrick Bet-David on the PBD podcast that Cook had called him hours earlier to complain about a fine the company had to pay for breaking EU rules. spoke.
He said Cook told him about the recent $15 billion fine imposed by the European Union, to which Trump responded, “That’s a lot.”
“On top of that, we’ve been hit with another $2 billion in fines from the European Union,” Trump continued, “so that’s a $17 billion to $18 billion fine.”
Apple and Irish government lose long-running legal dispute Regarding unpaid taxes for September.
The EU’s top court has upheld charges by the EU’s legislative body, the European Commission, that Ireland had given illegal tax benefits to Apple.
Mr Cook described the commission’s findings as “political” and said in 2016 Ireland was “being bullied”.
A few months ago, in March, the European Commission fined Apple €1.8 billion for: Suspected of violating music streaming rulesIt was a victory for rival service Spotify.
According to Trump, Apple’s chief executive went on to say that the EU was using funds it received through antitrust fines to run “companies.”
Antitrust fines paid by companies that violate EU competition rules go into the EU’s general budget and “help raise funds for the EU and reduce burdens on taxpayers.” The commission’s website says:.
A European Commission spokesperson said antitrust fines are aimed at sanctioning companies that violate competition rules and deterring them and others from engaging in anticompetitive behavior. said.
“When determining the amount of the fine, the commission will consider both the seriousness and duration of the breach,” they told BBC News.
“All companies are welcome in the EU as long as they respect our rules and laws.”
Trump said he told Cook he would not let the EU “take advantage of our companies” but that he needed to “get elected first.”
The former president has spent part of his campaign wooing prominent technology figures, including Tesla and X (formerly Twitter) president Elon Musk. Some of Trump’s supporters.
He also said he spoke to Google boss Sundar Pichai earlier this week and claims he had multiple calls with Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg in August.
Mr. Musk and the heads of several big tech companies have criticized the EU’s approach to regulating platforms.
The bloc has a set of rules and requirements that businesses must comply with in order to offer digital products and services within the region.
This includes the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and its Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act.
Its two digital laws aim to rein in powerful “gatekeeper” technology companies, give consumers more choice, and protect users of online platforms and services from illegal or harmful content.
Apple had previously claimed that it would open up its services, including its app store, to third parties as requested by the DMA. Could be bad for the user.
EU Artificial Intelligence (AI) Law; It passed early this yearwas also created Concerns about some technology companies Regulating products according to risk.
It also allows producers of general-purpose AI systems to be more transparent about the data used to train their models.
Meta executive Nick Clegg recently said:Regulatory uncertaintyBehind the delay in the rollout of generative AI products in the EU were “problems in the EU.
Apple also said Unique generative AI feature suite Even if the iPhone is readily available elsewhere, it won’t be on the iPhone in the EU.
