Skip to main content

Tim Cook discusses Trump’s trade tariffs, 50m Apple Music subscribers, original content efforts and more in new interview

Apple’s CEO Tim Cook will appear on Bloomberg’s David Rubenstein interview show next month. The publication previewed the talking points in an article today.

Cook says he discussed the new Chinese tariffs with US President Donald Trump, explaining why he believed it ‘was not the right approach’. There is also an update on Apple Music, Apple’s foray into original content and more.

In addition to the topic of Trump’s controversial trade policies, Cook also urged the president to reconsider his stance on repealing DACA.

Cook was supportive of the Trump administration’s corporate tax policy, which has enabled Apple to move its overseas cash back to the US and kickstart a fresh $100 billion capital return program. He said that Apple’s share buyback program is good for the US economy as a whole:

“We’re also going to buy some of our stock because we view our stock as a good value,” Cook told Rubenstein in the interview. “It’s good for the economy as well because if people sell stock they pay taxes on their gains.”

The interview will also cover Apple’s original content efforts. It is common knowledge that Apple is prepping a roster of about ten TV shows to launch early in 2019, after hiring two long-time Sony execs to run a new worldwide video division. Cook says that Apple is invested in content and ‘we will be playing in a way that is consistent with our brand’.

Regarding Apple Music, Cook says that Apple now has more than 50 million subscribers to the Apple Music service, combining paying customers with free trial users.

In April, Apple Music announced that it had crossed 40 million active paid subscribers and 8 million trials. This means the company saw an increase of about 2 million active users in a month’s span.

The full interview with David Rubenstein will be aired in June.


Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel