• Tim Cook joined Donald Trump for a celebratory announcement in the Oval Office.
• Apple announced that it is increasing its existing $500 billion investment in the US by $100 billion.
• Trump said companies like Apple "will be treated really well."

Tim Cook gifted President Donald Trump an American-made glass engraving at the White House today — but it was the Apple CEO who walked away with the real prize.

On Wednesday, Cook presented Trump with an inscribed piece of Apple-produced glass made in Kentucky that sits upon a 24k gold base made in Utah to celebrate the tech giant's "American Manufacturing Program."

"This glass comes off the Corning line, engraved for President Trump," Cook told reporters during a ceremony in the Oval Office. "It is a unique unit of one."

Cook and Apple aren't walking away empty-handed. Companies that "are building in the United States," like Apple, won't be subject to a forthcoming 100% tariff on imports of semiconductors and chips, Trump said.

"The good news for companies like Apple is if you're building in the United States or have committed to build, without question, in the United States, there will be no charge," Trump said.

Cook said the gift was designed by a former US Marine Corps. Corporal who now works for Apple. Cook's signature is also etched into the gift.

Apple announced that it is adding an additional $100 billion to its existing pledge to spend $500 billion in the US over the next four years. As part of its investment, Cook said that soon, 100% of all cover glass for all iPhones and Apple Watches will be manufactured in the US.

It is still a far cry from Trump's hope of a made-in-the-USA iPhone. When a reporter pressed Cook on the possibility of an American-made iPhone, Trump echoed Cook's view that Apple already makes many of the popular smartphone's components in the US.

"We've been talking about it, and the whole thing is set up in other places, and it's been there for a long time, so in terms of the cost and all," Trump said. "But I think we may incentivize him enough that one day he'll be bringing that."

While it's a win for Cook, Apple isn't fully in the clear from the impact of Trump's tariffs. It remains uncertain if the tech giant will be subject to the president's stiffer tariffs on India, which are aimed at punishing the nation for continuing to buy Russian oil.

Cook said during Apple's recent earnings call that the company's financial hit from tariffs last quarter was $800 million. Apple said those costs are likely to balloon to $1.1 billion in the September quarter.

The Apple CEO has come bearing gifts before. In Trump's final financial disclosure before leaving the White House in 2021, the president reported receiving a $5,999 MacBook Pro computer.

It's also not the first time Cook's savvy relationship-building skills have earned the president's praise. In 2019, Trump said Cook was the only tech executive who calls him directly, and the Apple CEO successfully landed carve-outs for some of Apple's products during the tariffs implemented during Trump's first term.

• The Trump administration released an "AI Action Plan" on Wednesday.
• It proposes withholding federal funding from states that have "burdensome" AI regulations.
• Republicans previously tried to ban states from regulating AI via the "Big Beautiful Bill."

The Trump administration really doesn't want states to go hard on AI regulation.

Tucked into the White House's new "AI Action Plan," released on Wednesday, is a proposal to limit AI-related federal funding to states that impose "burdensome" regulations. The plan argues that doing so would be wasteful.

At the same time, the 28-page document leaves room to allow states to continue regulating AI in some form via "prudent laws that are not unduly restrictive to innovation."

"AI is far too important to smother in bureaucracy at this early stage, whether at the state or Federal level," reads the document, which was authored by White House Crypto Czar David Sacks, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios.

The plan says that federal agencies will "consider a state's AI regulatory climate when making funding decisions" and "limit funding if the state's AI regulatory regimes may hinder the effectiveness of that funding or award."

It also recommends that the Federal Communications Commission review states' AI laws to see whether they interfere with the agency's authority.

Republicans previously tried to do a version of this via the "Big Beautiful Bill." The House version of the bill would have outright banned states from enforcing AI laws for 10 years, while a proposal by Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas would've tried to accomplish the same thing by conditioning federal funding to states.

That provision was met with internal GOP resistance and was ultimately stripped out of the bill in a 99-1 vote before it passed.

In addition to pushing for lighter regulation on AI, the administration's action plan also called for quicker development of AI data centers and the promotion of American AI technology abroad to counter Chinese influence.

The plan is likely to be received well by the tech industry broadly, which has pushed for lighter regulations.

On Wednesday, IBM Chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna praised the plan, calling it a "critical step towards harnessing AI for sustained economic growth and national competitiveness."

"IBM applauds the White House for its bold and timely AI Action Plan, which prioritizes open innovation, strengthens US technological leadership, and proposes a supportive regulatory environment for AI development and deployment," Krishna said in a statement.

• The Trump administration is fine with Nvidia selling chips in China.
• Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says the best chips will stay within the US.
• Nvidia announced that it has received assurances it can resume selling its H20 chip in China.

The Trump White House says it's content to allow Nvidia to tap into the lucrative Chinese market.

"We don't sell them our best stuff, not our second best stuff, not even our third best," Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on CNBC Tuesday afternoon. "I think fourth best is where we have come out that we're cool."

Nvidia announced on Monday that the Trump administration has signaled it will allow the company to sell its China-specific H20 chip once more. The news sent shares of the world's most valuable company, which eclipsed $4 trillion in market cap last week, even higher.

Nvidia's H20 was designed to be technologically inferior. As Lutnick said, the company also sells three other chips that far surpass the H20's power. Nvidia is already preparing its transition from Blackwell (its most powerful chip) to Blackwell Ultra and has plans for its next superchip, "Vera Rubin."

CEO Jensen Huang has pushed to sell the company's prized chips to China. Before the news, Nvidia said it had lost $8 billion on unshipped orders. The announcement came after Huang met with President Donald Trump at the White House last week.

Lutnick said that the administration shares Huang's view that cutting China off completely from the chips needed to power artificial intelligence advancements won't starve China's AI industry.

"So the idea is the Chinese are more than capable of building their own, right? So you want to keep one step ahead of what they can build so they keep buying our chips, because, remember, developers are the key to technology," Lutnick said.

In the end, Lutnick said, it's better if China becomes reliant on the US for chips.

"So you want to sell the Chinese enough that their developers get addicted to the American technology stack," he said. And that's the thinking. Donald Trump is on it."

• Recent polls show Elon Musk's favorability declined with Republicans after feuding with Donald Trump.
• Musk's overall favorability already had sustained significant hits during his time in the White House.
• The billionaire's struggles come during a critical time for Tesla.

Elon Musk's image isn't what it used to be.

The Tesla CEO's feud with President Donald Trump risked worsening his already underwater popularity, and new polling shows that even the apparent peace between the once-friends hasn't repaired Musk's standing with Republicans.

A new Morning Consult poll found that Musk's net favorability is at -14 percentage points. The good news for the billionaire is that his overall standing as of June 20 is up four points since June 15, the week after the peak of his feud with Trump.

It's still lower than where he stood when he left the White House in late May. Among Republicans, Musk is down roughly 12 points; he'd dropped 10 points immediately after he criticized Trump in early June.

"In the US, Musk managed to alienate both those on the left (due to his support for DOGE, the Trump administration, and the election) and those on the right (as seen in his statements on X following his fallout with the President over the "big beautiful bill")," Frank T. Rothaermel, a regents' professor at the Scheller College of Business at Georgia Tech, told Business Insider in an email.

"The good thing in the US is that people's memories are short and a ton of stuff is happening every day," he added.

Voters began to become increasingly polarized toward Musk after his takeover of Twitter, Morning Consult US Politics Analyst Eli Yokley told Business Insider. Musk's closeness to Trump "poured fuel on the fire," which left his image in a much different state than some of his fellow tech moguls, who also sought to curry favor with the White House.

"It weighs on him in a very unique way that other CEOs who have tried to kiss the ring a bit just haven't experienced to the same extent," Yokley told Business Insider.

Musk's favorability isn't polled as frequently as someone like Trump. YouGov, which has sporadic data on Musk going back to 2018, found that immediately after the feud, Musk recorded his lowest net favorability in its records.

The handful of post-feud polls that have been released show similar warning signs. Namely, many Republicans, who were once the bulwark for Musk's sagging numbers, no longer have such rosy views of the billionaire.

An Economist-YouGov poll taken in the week after the feud found that Musk's net favorability among Republicans dropped 20 points. A Reuters-Ipsos poll found that he dropped 13 points in net favorability in a roughly one-month span.

This is a critical moment for Tesla

On June 22, Tesla began a limited rollout of its robotaxi service in Austin. The stock jumped as much as 11% the following day, though it had pared its gains by the end of the week. Overall, it's been a wild year for Tesla's share price.

Musk is the face of Tesla, a close association that comes with some risk. Some analysts downgraded the company during his feud with Trump.

"The recent incident between Musk and President Trump exemplifies key-person risk associated with Musk's political activities," Baird senior research analyst Ben Kallo wrote in a note earlier this month.

Musk has signaled a retreat from politics, though whether he sticks by that commitment remains to be seen.

Tesla is facing other challenges. In China, the newly announced Xiaomi YU7 is priced to compete with Tesla's popular Model Y, and Tesla's sales have fallen in key markets like Europe in recent months.

The automaker is set to announce its second-quarter delivery numbers on Wednesday, and many analysts are expecting a year-over-year decrease.

John Helveston, an assistant professor at George Washington University, told BI that Musk's "political unpopularity is very unhelpful" as the CEO looks to navigate Tesla through the challenges it's currently facing.

"Elon Musk is strongest [indeed, world-class, second to none] when he focuses on his core competencies: solving 'impossible' engineering problems," Rothaermel said. "If I were on the board of directors at Tesla, that is what I would want him to focus on."

The Morning Consult poll is based on data collected during the firm's tracking poll from June 20 to 22nd, based on a representative sample of 2,205 registered U.S. voters. The margin of error is +/- 2 percentage points. Smaller subsamples have a larger margin of error. Full results are available here.

• Elon Musk has sat down for at least five interviews in recent days.
• He's criticized Trump's spending bill and said he's spent too much time on politics.
• Here's what to know about each interview Musk has given.

Elon Musk is talking to the media again.

After months of largely avoiding sit-down interviews as he devoted time to DOGE, the tech titan suddenly seems to be all over the place.

Across five recent and forthcoming interviews, Musk has reflected on the work of DOGE, offered some criticism of President Donald Trump's legislative agenda, and indicated he's trying to spend less time on politics and more time on his companies.

Here's what you should know about what he said in each interview.

Bloomberg: Musk says he's spending less on politics

Perhaps the biggest revelation from Musk's sit-down with Bloomberg at the Qatar Economic Forum last week is that he's no longer going to be spending big on politics, like he did in the 2024 election.

"I think I've done enough," Musk said. "If I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it. I do not currently see a reason."

If the tech titan holds true to those comments, Republicans will be losing out on what could have been tens of millions of dollars in political spending. Last year, Musk spent nearly $300 million, mostly on Trump.

He also said that it's up to Trump and Congress to make the project of DOGE a success.

"The DOGE team has done incredible work, but the magnitude of the savings is proportionate to the support we get from Congress and from the executive branch of the government in general," Musk said.

CNBC: New Tesla announcements

Musk's CNBC interview, which also took place last Tuesday, was mostly about Tesla.

He said that within just a matter of months, there could be 1,000 of the company's robotaxis on the streets of Austin, Texas.

"We'll start with probably 10 for a week, then increase it to 20, 30, 40," Musk said. "It will probably be at 1,000 within a few months." He's previously said the ramp-up will be quick.

He also mentioned that he still planned to be in Washington on a weekly basis, even as he spends more time on his companies.

"My rough plan on the White House is to be there for a couple days every few weeks, and to be helpful where I can be helpful," Musk said.

Ars Technica: Musk says he's spent too much time on politics

Musk spoke with Ars Technica, a tech-focused publication, in an Q&A published on Tuesday.

Though he mostly talked about SpaceX, he also said he's been too involved in politics since wading into the 2024 presidential race last year.

"I think I probably did spend a bit too much time on politics," Musk told the outlet. "It's not like I left the companies. It was just relative time allocation that probably was a little too high on the government side, and I've reduced that significantly in recent weeks."

The Washington Post: Musk laments that DOGE has become a 'whipping boy'

In an interview with the Washington Post, also published on Tuesday, Musk said that the "federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realized" and that it's an "uphill battle trying to improve things" in Washington, DC.

He also lamented the political backlash that DOGE has generated, especially from Democrats.

"DOGE is just becoming the whipping boy for everything," he said. "So, like, something bad would happen anywhere, and we would get blamed for it even if we had nothing to do with it."

That backlash has extended to his companies, particularly Tesla.

"People were burning Teslas," Musk said. "Why would you do that? That's really uncool."

CBS: Not a fan of the 'big beautiful bill'

In an interview with CBS — a network that's currently in the midst of a legal battle with Trump — Musk criticized the "One Big Beautiful Bill," which is the centerpiece of the president's legislative agenda because it adds trillions to the deficit.

"I was like, disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decrease it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing," Musk said. "I think a vote can be big, or it could be beautiful. I don't know if it could be both."

And that's just what we know from a clip that was released on Tuesday. The rest of the interview is set to air on Sunday, June 1.