Apple hires major Trump donor as lobbyist — to beg the president to lay off his trade war tariffs: report

On Thursday, CNBC reported that Apple is hiring Jeffrey Miller to be a lobbyist on "trade issues as they relate to technological goods and services."

Miller is a longtime ally of President Donald Trump who served as the vice chairman of the president's inaugural committee. He has since been a major donor for Trump's 2020 re-election campaign.

"While it’s unclear how much Miller is being paid for his services, Apple has spent more than $5.5 million on lobbying efforts throughout 2019, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics," wrote CNBC's Brian Schwartz. "Most of those funds have gone toward paying their own in-house lobbyists but it has tapped four other firms outside the company for help this year."

Apple is currently lobbying the Trump administration to grant a carve-out for their technology line from the sharp tariffs imposed on goods from China. These tariffs, in addition to severely threatening Apple's bottom line, have threatened to raise consumer prices, kill jobs, and endanger some $630 billion in traded goods per year.