Tim Cook said not to worry too much about China's iPhones tariffs

Apple CEO Tim Cook said that until now, the company's products have managed to escape the consequences of escalating trade war between President Donald Trump and China, and he hoped that would stay that way.

Beijing announced in May that it would impose a 25% tariff on US products in retaliation for Trump's plan increase rates on goods imported from China. Analysts predict that the cost of iPhones could increase by 14%, but that has not happened yet, said Cook in a recent interview.

"To be honest, the Chinese have not targeted Apple at all, and I do not foresee that." Cook said in an interview with CBS News, conceding that a tariff on the iPhone would hurt smartphone sales. (Disclosure: CBS News is owned by CBS, the parent company of CNET.)

"I hope it will not happen," he said during the interview. "The truth is that the iPhone is made everywhere, it is made everywhere, so a price tag on the iPhone would be detrimental to all these countries, but the one that would suffer the most is this one."

Chinese tariffs were announced in retaliation for Mr. Trump's pledge to increase tariffs of 200 to 25 percent on imports from China, which according to many experts in the technology sectors and telecommunications, will hurt US consumers and businesses. tariffs on China came into effect in May, despite the continuation of trade negotiations between the administration and Chinese officials.

Mr. Cook went on to say that he was "proud" to collaborate regularly with the White House, noting that keeping the lines of communication open made it possible to solve the problems.

"I do not believe in" I do not agree with you, so I do not want to have anything to do with you, "he said." The way you stop polarization is to talk . It's a bit like the first step. And I do not want to be part of the problem, I want to be part of the solution. "

Cook characterized his discussions with Trump as fairly simple, with a lot of back and forth.

"He listens to comments, which I appreciate," Cook said. "Sometimes he does not agree, but my philosophy about things is that you always get involved, even when you know you're going to end up in very different camps."

The interview also addressed the debate on screen time and its concerns people are absorbed in their phones rather than in personal interactions.

Cook said he was receiving a weekly report on the use of his iPhone, calling the results "pretty deep". The results prompted him to change his habits so that he was less tempted to pick up his device.

"We did not design the phone for you to use it all the time, we designed the phone to improve your life," Cook said. "But for me, my rule is simple: if I look at the camera more than in the eyes of someone, I do not do the right thing."

Cook's interview comes as Apple welcomes designers, engineers and developers this week at its annual conference World Conference of Developers in San Jose, California. During Monday's keynote presentation, the CEO of Apple and other senior officers presented new features for iOS 13, a new Mac Pro, a new operating system for the iPad and more.

Cook also spoke to O Donnell about the company the movements of privacy and on recent calls to break the Silicon Valley technology giants. When asked if Apple is too big, Cook said no. Cook told O Donnell that he thought "control is right", but he said that he disagreed with Appeal of Senator Elizabeth Warren to the division of Apple and other major technology companies.

Andrew Morse of CNET contributed to this report.

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