Trump preparing for battle against EU regulators targeting Apple

Former President Donald Trump said he is preparing to fight against European Union regulators targeting Apple if he returns to the White House next year.

Mr. Trump, the Republican nominee, told the “PBD Podcast” that he intends to fight for the U.S. tech giant, which is facing threats from European regulators.

He said he spoke with Apple CEO Tim Cook a few hours before taping the podcast interview last week and pledged to push back against fines from foreign regulators.

“I said, ’But, Tim, I got to get elected first, but I’m not going to let them take advantage of our companies,’” Mr. Trump said on the podcast. “That won’t, you know, be happening.”

Mr. Cook estimated that the total burden in fines from the EU is between $17 billion and $18 billion, according to Mr. Trump.

“I said, ’That’s a lot. I know the feeling because I get fined too in fake cases,’” Mr. Trump said. “But I don’t know if his case is fake yet, but it’s a lot.”

Mr. Trump said that he wondered whether Apple could pay what the EU regulators have demanded and that Mr. Cook argued that EU regulators were using the fines to run their government.

The former president said his relationship with Mr. Cook has developed since his previous term in office, when Mr. Trump granted the Apple CEO’s request for help competing against Samsung in exchange for adding manufacturing sites in the U.S.

“And he actually did, he built one in Texas, he would have built a lot more, but we had a thing called, you know, a change in the administration,” Mr. Trump said.

Mr. Trump’s public defense of Apple comes amid a broader courtship of top tech minds.

For example, the former president previously campaigned with tech billionaire Elon Musk at a Pennsylvania event. Mr. Musk returned Thursday to Pennsylvania on for a solo event to promote Mr. Trump in the Philadelphia suburbs.

Mr. Trump, who wants to win Mr. Cook’s vote as well, heaped praise on the leader of Apple.

“I believe that if Tim Cook didn’t run Apple, if Steve Jobs did, it wouldn’t — maybe it would — it wouldn’t be nearly as successful,” Mr. Trump said on the podcast.