Technology

Apple CEO Tim Cook visits White House to discuss workforce initiative

by Emily Birnbaum

Apple CEO Tim Cook on Thursday became the latest tech executive to pay a visit to the White House this year.

President Trump and his eldest daughter, senior adviser Ivanka Trump, told reporters during a lunch meeting with governors that Cook was at the White House earlier in the day as part of his work with the White House workforce advisory board.

{mosads}”We’ve secured commitments from [the private sector] to do more,” Ivanka Trump told the room of governors, according to a White House transcript. “Tim Cook, from Apple, who was here today, who’s also on the advisory board.”

“Who just left,” the president chimed in. “He just left our office.”

Ivanka Trump praised Cook’s contributions to White House initiatives, saying he has been a “real force on both the advisory board and in his commitment to lifelong learning generally.”
Cook in February joined the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board, a body tasked with developing a “21st century workforce” plan. The board, which includes other CEOs, is co-chaired by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Ivanka Trump.
Apple did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment on Cook’s Thursday visit to the White House.
Trump has met with top tech executives including Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Google CEO Sundar Pichai in recent months.

Earlier this year he said he met with Pichai to discuss the company’s work in China and allegations of anti-conservative bias. Trump later said on Twitter that the meeting went “very well.”

“We were pleased to have productive conversations with the President about investing in the future of the American workforce, the growth of emerging technologies and our ongoing commitment to working with the U.S. government,” Google said in a statement at the time.

Trump’s meeting with Twitter’s Dorsey in April reportedly went awry, with sources saying Trump used the opportunity to ask the Twitter CEO about his follower count.

He also accused Twitter of discriminating against him and other conservatives, pointing to his fluctuating follower count as proof that he was being censored, The Washington Post reported at the time.

Dorsey reportedly pushed back, saying Twitter regularly purges accounts believed to be spam.

Trump has often railed against the country’s top tech companies, accusing them of being biased against conservatives — allegations that the tech companies have categorically denied and have been substantiated by little evidence beyond personal anecdotes.

The White House last month launched a tool to report instances of “political bias,” offering participants the opportunity to flag what they considered bias on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

Trump has previously indicated a fondness for Apple’s Cook, and in March made headlines when he referred to him as “Tim Apple.”