Trump: Apple's Tim Cook believes economic recovery will be V-shaped

President Donald Trump said on Friday that he spoke with Apple CEO Tim Cook about the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on the economy.

Specifically, Trump told a group of reporters in the Oval Office that Tim Cook believes the economy will see a V-shaped recovery. This is best described as when an economic plunge is very closely followed by a similar surge.

"He said he talked to Tim Cook of Apple who told him that he expects that the economy is going to have a V-shaped recovery here, bounce back very quickly after this virus problem," CNBC's Eamon Javers said.

That's in contrast to a U-shaped recovery, which means that the economy will hang at its low points for a while — potentially up to a couple of years — before eventually recovering. The U.S. economy saw a U-shaped recovery after the Great Recession in 2008.

In a Reuters poll taken between April 15 and 20, nearly half of 45 economists told the publication that they believe the U.S. economic recovery would be U-shaped.

Cook, as the chief executive of one of the world's largest companies, likely has deeper insight into broader economic trends in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Cook was also one of several prominent business executives called to assist Trump in developing a plan to reopen the U.S.

At a virtual all-hands meeting on April 16, Cook told Apple employees that he believes the Cupertino tech giant will emerge strongly from the COVID-19 crisis.

Earlier on Friday, the president signed a new round of economic relief funding in an effort to cushion the impact that coronavirus is having on the U.S. economy.

AppleInsider has reached out to Apple to confirm context or details of when and how the comments were made. Apple did not respond to CNBC's inquiries about the remark.