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Apple CEO Tim Cook explains why he met with Donald Trump

It doesn't usually pay off to be on the sidelines, he told employees.

President-elect Donald Trump, Peter Thiel and Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple, Inc., listen during a meeting with technology executives at Trump Tower, December 14, 2016 in New York City. 
 
President-elect Donald Trump, Peter Thiel and Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple, Inc., listen during a meeting with technology executives at Trump Tower, December 14, 2016 in New York City.   
Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Last week, President-elect Trump held a meeting at Trump Tower with a group of big tech CEOs — and many people have criticized those who attended the meeting.

Among the attendees was Tim Cook. This week, according to TechCrunch, the Apple CEO took to an internal staff web service to answer some questions about why he chose to meet with Donald Trump. One of these was “How important is it for Apple to engage with governments?”

To which, Cook said it is “very important.” He went on to add that “Governments can affect our ability to do what we do. They can affect it in positive ways and they can affect in not so positive ways.”

He argued that this could also help strengthen Apple’s impact on policy surrounding business, tax reform, internet privacy and climate change — and that he doesn’t find “being on the sideline a successful place to be.”

Click the audio player above to hear the full story.

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