Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said that if he is elected president, he will not allow Brussels to benefit financially from the activities of American technology giants.
He promised this during a phone conversation with Apple CEO Tim Cook, who called him, the ag reported. Reuters. According to Trump, Cook complained to him on the phone that the European Union had “ fined the company USD 15 billion, on top of that Brussels imposed a fine of another USD 2 billion”.
„I will not allow them to use our companies to their advantage. This will not happen”, the agency quoted Trump as saying.
Apple did not respond to a request to confirm the authenticity of the phone call, the statement noted.
Last month, Apple lost a lengthy legal battle with the European Union. According to the judgment of the European Court in Luxembourg, the overseas corporation must return more than €13 billion to Ireland for violating European tax regulations. Apple was fined $2 billion by the EU earlier this year for violating antitrust laws by preventing other companies from competing in the music streaming space through restrictions on the App Store.
According to the European Commission, from 2003 to 2014, Apple paid up to 1% tax, with the basic rate in Ireland being 12.5%. This happened due to the fact that almost all of Apple's European sales were registered in Ireland, where the company's main European office is located, and not in the countries where the products are sold.