• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch

2

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

3

Current price of oil as of July 1, 2026

1

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch

2

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

3

Current price of oil as of July 1, 2026
TechApple

Apple CEO Tim Cook’s $100 billion commitment to U.S. manufacturing came with a gift for Trump: a glass ‘Made in USA’ plaque mounted on 24-karat gold

Sasha Rogelberg
By
Sasha Rogelberg
Sasha Rogelberg
Reporter
Down Arrow Button Icon
Sasha Rogelberg
By
Sasha Rogelberg
Sasha Rogelberg
Reporter
Down Arrow Button Icon
August 7, 2025, 1:57 PM ET
Donald Trump and Tim Cook in the Oval Office standing behind a glass plaque resting on a desk
CEO Tim Cook gifted President Donald Trump a "Made in USA" glass plaque following Apple's announcement of a $100 billion investment in U.S. manufacturing.Win McNamee—Getty Images
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.
  • CEO Tim Cook is giving President Donald Trump more than just a $600 billion promise to accelerate U.S. manufacturing of Apple products. Following the announcement of a $100 billion investment in domestic production, Cook gave Trump a customized glass plaque mounted on a 24-karat gold stand. Cook has been dubbed the “Trump Whisperer” for his ability to strike deals and maintain a good rapport with the president.

As if a $100 billion promise to invest in U.S. manufacturing wasn’t enough, Apple CEO Tim Cook gave President Donald Trump another token of commitment: a customized glass plaque mounted on a 24-karat gold stand.

Recommended Video

“It’s a unique unit of one,” Cook said. After Cook pointed out during his Oval Office visit that the gift box was made in California, that the engraved glass was designed by a former Marine Corps corporal who works at Apple, and that the gold base came from Utah, Trump responded, “Thank you very much, it’s fantastic.” The price of gold is $3,383 per ounce as of Thursday. 

At the Oval Office on Wednesday, Cook announced Apple’s plans to accelerate domestic manufacturing, pouring $100 billion into the “American Manufacturing Program”, which will expand Apple’s 18-year-old partnership with Corning, a New York-based company that produces the glass for iPhone and iWatch screens. The massive cash infusion brings the tech giant’s total commitment to domestic production to $600 billion over the next four years, following Apple’s $500 billion investment announcement in February. 

Apple’s announcement comes as Trump plans to impose a 100% tariff on semiconductor chips, hiking prices for electronics, cars, appliances, and other technology using the chips. With its renewed vigor for U.S. manufacturing, Apple effectively dodges the tax.

“If you’re building in the United States of America, there’s no charge,” Trump said in the meeting with the press and Cook, where he also announced the chips tariff.

Trump has heaped pressure on U.S. tech companies to shift production domestically—despite analysts’ warnings that it’s neither cost-efficient nor logistically practical to do so. Even U.S. manufacturing darling Corning has a Chinese subsidiary providing optical fiber for the regional market. In May, Trump threatened a 25% tariff on Apple if it didn’t cut ties with overseas manufacturers in India and elsewhere. Last month, Cook forecasted a $1.1 billion hit from the tariffs in the coming quarter as it continues to lean on its production in China and India.

Apple did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.

Cook and Trump’s courtship

Cook has a long history of working with Trump, gaining the title of “Trump Whisperer” for his ability to make compromises around tax cuts and manufacturing commitments.

According to Joseph Badaracco, John Shad Professor of Business Ethics at the Harvard School of Business, Cook’s gift to Trump not only aligns with his ethos of keeping things copacetic with the president, but also continuing to set Apple apart from its tech rivals.

“The president has now gotten a long series of these giant commitments to manufacturing in the U.S. from a lot of other countries and a lot of companies,” Badaracco told Fortune. “So this is the way of making the Apple commitment stand out a little more.”

“Nobody would describe it as ethically noble, but it was just a small gesture underscoring the Apple commitment,” he added.

In April, Nvidia pledged $500 billion to manufacture AI gear in the U.S., following pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, which announced plans to double its U.S. manufacturing investment to $50 billion. While Cook’s gift to Trump will likely be quickly forgotten, Badaracco posited, other executives may look at Apple as the precedent to navigating policy uncertainty.

“If you’re running a company dealing with the Trump administration, you’ve got sort of a collapse of the old checks and balances: Congress has the courts moving slowly, and in the interim, you’ve got a president who’s acting, by many accounts, arbitrarily,” Badaracco said. “So you’ve got to do what you can in circumstances like that.” 

About the Author
Sasha Rogelberg
By Sasha RogelbergReporter
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Sasha Rogelberg is a reporter and former editorial fellow on the news desk at Fortune, covering retail and the intersection of business and popular culture.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

A test of Anduril's Altius drone.
NewslettersTerm Sheet
Defense tech could be entering its awkward teenage years. Is the boom a bubble?
By Allie GarfinkleJuly 2, 2026
1 hour ago
em
Commentary250 Years of Innovation
America’s 250th birthday has Elon Musk and a record IPO. Its 15th had Alexander Hamilton — and a stock market bubble
By Owen LamontJuly 2, 2026
1 hour ago
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg (left) and CTO Andrew "Boz" Bosworth in Menlo Park, California, on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. (Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
NewslettersFortune Tech
Meta prepares to join the cloud infrastructure fray
By Andrew NuscaJuly 2, 2026
2 hours ago
Sam Altman seeks new world order for AI as OpenAI slowly loses ground to Google and Anthropic 
AIMarkets
Sam Altman seeks new world order for AI as OpenAI slowly loses ground to Google and Anthropic 
By Jim EdwardsJuly 2, 2026
3 hours ago
elon
CommentaryChina
China has 400 private space companies. The West is barely paying attention
By Rainer ZitelmannJuly 2, 2026
3 hours ago
hegseth
Startups & VentureVenture Capital
The defense tech boom has become a bubble—or it will be soon
By Allie GarfinkleJuly 2, 2026
5 hours ago

Most Popular

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
Big Tech
As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 1, 2026
1 day ago
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
Success
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
By Sydney LakeJune 25, 2026
7 days ago
Current price of oil as of July 1, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 1, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 1, 2026
23 hours ago
The Supreme Court's birthright citizenship ruling hands the U.S. economy a $7.7 trillion win
Newsletters
The Supreme Court's birthright citizenship ruling hands the U.S. economy a $7.7 trillion win
By Diane BradyJuly 1, 2026
1 day ago
Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
Success
Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
By Preston ForeJune 27, 2026
5 days ago
Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place
Success
Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place
By Sydney LakeJune 29, 2026
3 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.