Is Tim Cook shielding Apple's new CEO from politics?

Ever wonder why a company's outgoing CEO would deliberately keep the most politically exhausting part of the job? That's exactly what Tim Cook just did, and it's not hard to see why once you look at what he's been dealing with for years.

Cook has spent years balancing Apple's stated values against pressure from Washington. Back in 2018, he co-signed a letter to the Trump administration warning that immigration policy changes were causing "considerable anxiety" for thousands of Apple employees and threatening to disrupt operations.

More recently, when Trump pushed Apple to drop its Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies, Cook said the company would follow the law but wouldn't compromise its values.

Cook retains the executive chairman’s charge of dealing with government relations globally, which has already been confirmed by Apple early this year.

Delegating day-to-day responsibilities to John Ternus but keeping all the political problems to himself leaves Ternus free to manage the company without getting involved in any political trouble of Apple.

Next week, Cook will be present at the state dinner held by the White House for President Xi Jinping from China, along with the CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman. It should be mentioned that currently the US and China have tense relations due to the race in AI, trade, and the Middle East geopolitical situation.