During Tuesday’s Apple shareholder meeting, CEO Tim Cook said the company won’t make changes to its diversity and inclusion programs. President Donald Trump wasn’t happy when he heard about it.
Cook said Apple’s strength is based on an employee pool with “diverse backgrounds and perspectives.” To nobody’s surprise, Trump doesn’t sound pleased with Cook’s comments.
“Apple should get rid of DEI rules, not just make adjustments to them,” the president wrote Wednesday morning on Truth Social. “DEI was a hoax that has been very bad for our country. DEI is gone!!!”
Apple diversity efforts promise a ‘culture of belonging’
Despite the fact that Trump’s threatened tariffs on products imported from China could hit Apple’s bottom line, Cook shows no signs of complying with Trump’s ant-DEI efforts. However, Cook noted that the legal landscape is in flux, and Apple might need to adjust in the future.
Cook also said during Tuesday’s hour-long Apple shareholder meeting that “the U.S. is our home, and we’re deeply committed to the country’s future,” a statement sure to please the president.
In short, Cook was careful not to directly confront Trump on anything, while also working to make the president happy.
Cook’s comments on Apple’s DEI efforts
During Tuesday’s meeting, shareholders approved Apple’s suggested slate of nominees for its board of directors and its executive compensation plan. Then, during a question-and-answer session, a controversial topic came up: DEI. While Trump calls diversity, equity and inclusion efforts “illegal and immoral discrimination programs,” Cook highlighted Apple’s diverse workforce in response to a question.
“Our strength has always come from hiring the very best people and then providing a culture of collaboration, one where people with diverse backgrounds and perspectives come together to innovate and create something magical for our users,” said Cook. “We’ll continue to work together to create a culture of belonging where everyone can do their best work, and we’ll remain committed to the values that have always made us who we are.”
That said, the Apple CEO stopped well short of directly fighting Trump’s anti-DEI efforts. As he noted, “We’ve never had quotas or targets for Apple.” He went on to say, “As the legal landscape around these issues evolves, we may need to make some changes to comply.”
Cook summarized Apple’s attitude on the issue with, “Our North Star of dignity and respect for everyone, and our work to that end, will never waver.”
A majority of Apple shareholders undoubtedly lean away from the Trump administration on the topic. A shareholder proposal entitled “Request to Cease DEI Efforts” was voted down at Tuesday’s meeting.
Apple is ‘proud to be American’
During the Q&A session, Cook also commented on the company’s commitment to invest $500 billion in the United States.
“We’re very proud to be an American company, and to put it simply, Apple products would not be possible without the U.S.,” Cook told shareholders. “Of course, that includes our incredible teams across the country who work in silicon engineering, artificial intelligence, R&D, retail, advanced manufacturing, hardware innovation, software development and so much more.”
A portion of the $500 billion investment announced Monday will go to “plans to expand teams and facilities across nine states,” said Cook. “It also includes a new factory that will produce advanced AI servers to power Apple Intelligence.
Cook also pointed out that Apple buys many components for its products from U.S. companies. “We have thousands of American suppliers across all 50 states, and we’ve long been one of the largest taxpayers in the U.S.,” Cook said.
Trump responded to the announcement of Apple’s $500 billion investment plan Monday on Truth Social. “The reason, faith in what we are doing, without which, they would’nt be investing ten cents,” he wrote (in all caps). “Thank you Tim Cook and Apple!!!”
We originally published this post on Tim Cook’s comments on Apple’s diversity efforts at 11 a.m. on February 25. We updated it with Trump’s comments on DEI.
Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 25 years, and using it for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh Classic II (which he still has), but now he uses a 13-inch iPad Pro as his primary computer. He’s written for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview, and Brighthand, as well as other sites.
