While Trump insists that these exemptions are only temporary, it appears that this pivot might have been the work of Apple CEO Tim Cook. A report from the Washington Post cites sources who spoke of a call between Cook and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick that happened before the exemptions were made public.

Cook's net worth is higher than the $1.1 billion accumulated by Google parent company Alphabet Inc. CEO Sundar Pichai, who succeeded Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 2019. It's also higher than the $1.4 billion net worth of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who succeeded Steve Balmer as CEO the company's CEO in 2014.

Apple’s CEO Tim Cook spoke to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick last week about the potential impact of the tariffs on iPhone prices.