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Apple's Cook so far absent from expected guests at White House tech roundtable

Cook sitting next to Trump at an earlier White House meeting.

The Trump administration is scheduled to host a roundtable next Thursday with some of the most influential CEOs in the technology industry — so far, however, Apple's Tim Cook isn't on the list of known attendees.

Leaders who are expected to come include Microsoft's Satya Nadella, Google's Sundar Pichai, Oracle's Safra Catz, and Qualcomm's Steve Mollenkopf, according to the Wall Street Journal. Some topics will include AI, 5G wireless, and quantum computing.

It is still possible that Cook might attend, as an email from the White House mentioned that other unnamed executives are onboard.

The relationship between tech companies and the White House has been strained since President Trump took office in 2017. While Trump has been eager to court their business and bring them back to the U.S., for instance through corporate tax cuts, he has also criticized them on matters like encryption and their presentation of news, for instance claiming that Google is suppressing positive conservative stories in favor of the "fake news media."

Many tech executives do lean liberal on social issues, Cook among them. He has for example spoken out against the Trump administration's efforts to ban Muslim immigrants and reverse legal protections for transgender individuals. The CEO has been softer on the administration's economic policies, but Apple could take a serious hit if the U.S.-China trade war escalates, since most of its assembly is done in China and further tariffs could drive up the already high cost of products like iPhones and MacBooks.

Editor's note: Due to its political nature, comments for this article have been disabled.