President Donald Trump said he talked to Tim Cook about tariffs and Apple’s South Korean competitor Samsung.

Trump said Cook made a “good case” that it would be difficult for Apple to pay tariffs, when Samsung does not face the same hurdle because much of its manufacturing is in South Korea.

“I thought he made a very compelling argument,” Trump told reporters Sunday. The president said he was having dinner with Apple’s CEO on Friday. 

Trump has ordered 10% tariffs on an additional $300 billion in goods imported from China. Originally, all of those tariffs were scheduled to go into effect on Sept. 1, but Trump delayed some of the import duties until Dec. 15 over concerns about how they would impact the holiday shopping season.

“It’s tough for Apple to pay tariffs if it’s competing with a very good company that’s not,” Trump said.

The tariffs delayed until December include consumer electronics such as cell phones. Apple’s stock closed up 4% on Tuesday after Trump made that decision. 

Apple is expected to release its new version of the iPhone in September.

Source: cnbc