Apple has discovered a rather interesting way to try and sidestep Trump’s trade war: a golden statue to make Trump happy. During an event on Wednesday, the president said that Apple would be exempt from the tariff hike that will soon take place on semiconductors. The exemption, which was reported earlier by Reuters, comes on the same day that Apple also pledged another $100 billion in investment in the U.S., and after Trump received a gift that may well have been handpicked for him: a personalized statue made out of 24-karat gold.

Tim Cook, Apple CEO, said the statue was made by Corning, a company that has been supplying specialty glass for the iPhone since the very beginning. A former US Marine Corps corporal who now works at Apple designed the statue, cutting the piece of glass into a large circle with a bold Apple logo in the center. “This is from Utah, made by a gentleman in a big glass factory down there,” Cook said, pointing to a thick 24-karat gold base engraved with Trump’s name. “I added a little something,” Cook added, signing a message on the statue: “Made in America.”

For Trump, a president who has always been intent on making sure corporations make more of their products in the US, the gift no doubt hit the spot. After being presented with the statue in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump confirmed that not only Apple, but any company building factories in the US, “will pay no charge when we put the tariffs on,” he said, referring to the tariff hike on semiconductors that will take effect later this year. For now, it’s a major reprieve for Apple, which had been the subject of months of Trump’s ire over the supply chain for its iconic product.

The decision to exempt Apple from tariffs is a marked shift from the earlier part of the year. Trump has previously gone after Apple for shifting a portion of iPhone manufacturing to India, rather than bringing production into the US. In April, the president said that his trade war would result in “Made in America” iPhones. By May, he was visibly more agitated, suggesting on the campaign trail while in the Middle East that he had “a little problem with Tim Cook.” Reportedly, he directly called Cook and said, “We are treating you really good, we put up with all the plants you built in China for years. We are not interested in you building in India.”

Analysts have been pointing out, though, that shifting iPhone assembly to the US would be an incredibly difficult process, one that would take years (if it could be done at all). The Trump administration seemed to buy into this as well, with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick even claiming last month that Apple was considering using “robotic arms” in the US to replicate the precision found in its China factories.

Cook’s charm offensive to Trump comes after mixed signals

Cook has made similar pledges to Trump during his previous term, but has always managed to walk back the president’s more extreme demands. Trump has claimed that Apple would build three “big, beautiful” plants in the US under his watch. One was eventually built, but was used to make face masks rather than consumer electronics. Similarly, last year, Trump visited a facility in Texas that he claimed was capable of making iPhones. Apple instead dedicated the facility to making MacBook Pros. Apple has now pledged a total of $600 billion in the US in the next four years. While the number is significant, analysts told Reuters that the total isn’t beyond Apple’s normal spending, and in fact very closely resembles the promises the company made in both the Biden administration and the Trump’s previous term in office. In short, Apple is likely not offering much that it wasn’t already planning on doing.

The White House has threatened to slap companies with retroactive tariffs if they fail to follow through on their pledges. But as of now, Apple is still running with its previously stated investment plan, and appears to have no current plans to shift iPhone assembly stateside. The math on the tariffs, which the company has publicly eschewed, hasn’t changed. And Trump seems unwilling to force the issue, for now.

Apple’s balancing act between the president and investors has pleased Wall Street. Nancy Tengler, CEO and CIO of Laffer Tengler Investments, a fund that owns Apple shares, told Reuters: “This is a savvy solution to the president’s demand that Apple manufacture all iPhones in the U.S.”

Cook has been careful to use a mix of charm, symbolic gestures, and strategic pledges to keep his company’s most complicated manufacturing operations outside the US, while not paying the price of tariffs in the process.