(Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump demanded on Thursday that Intel’s Lip-Bu Tan resign immediately, saying that the company’s new CEO was “highly conflicted” due to his ties to Chinese firms.
While Trump’s demand marked a rare presidential attempt to determine who leads a corporation, Tan is not the first executive or company to face Trump’s ire – the president has been vocal about his complaints concerning corporate policies and operations since he took office in January.
Here are some prominent CEOs and businesses that Trump has publicly criticized:
LIP-BU TAN, CEO, INTEL
Trump’s demand for the Intel CEO’s departure came after Reuters reported exclusively in April that Tan invested at least $200 million in hundreds of Chinese advanced manufacturing and chip firms, some of which were linked to the Chinese military.
“The CEO of INTEL is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately. There is no other solution to this problem,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
Tan responded to Trump late on Thursday, saying he shared the president’s commitment to advancing U.S. national and economic security and that the Intel board was “fully supportive of the work we are doing to transform our company.”
ELON MUSK, CEO, TESLA
The billionaire tech CEO spent hundreds of millions of dollars supporting Trump’s re-election, a move investors who bid up Tesla stock expected to benefit Musk’s empire.
Trump and Musk, however, had a falling out early in June after Musk criticized Trump’s sweeping tax-cut and spending bill, because it is projected to increase federal debt.
Trump responded to Musk’s attack on Truth Social, threatening to cut federal subsidies and contracts to Musk’s companies and saying the billionaire “just went CRAZY” after losing the EV mandate in the bill.
By early July, Trump messaged, “Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at (Musk’s contracts)?” Days later, Musk announced the formation of a centrist America Party. The President responded to Musk’s move, calling him a “train wreck.”
TIM COOK, CEO, APPLE
Trump has repeatedly targeted Apple and its boss, Cook, for making U.S.-sold iPhones outside the country and has threatened company-specific tariffs.
In May, Trump recalled after a meeting in the Qatari capital Doha, that he had confronted Cook about shifting production to India, amid the company’s plans to make most of its iPhones sold in the U.S. at factories in India by the end of 2026.
Trump had said in a social media post that he told Cook “long ago” that “I expect their iPhones that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else.”
Trump threatened Apple in May with a 25% tariff on products manufactured overseas. Apple is already reeling from Trump’s tariff war, warning that tariffs would add $1.1 billion in costs in the July-September quarter after costing the company $800 million in the June quarter.
Earlier this week, though, Trump announced Apple would invest an additional $100 billion in the U.S., raising Apple’s total domestic commitment to $600 billion over the next four years. Cook also gave Trump a U.S.-made souvenir with a 24-karat gold base.
BRIAN MOYNIHAN, CEO, BANK OF AMERICA
JAMIE DIMON, CEO, JPMORGAN CHASE
Trump alleged BofA CEO Brian Moynihan and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon discriminated against him and his supporters.
In January, Trump accused both Moynihan and Dimon of not providing banking services to conservatives, echoing Republican complaints about the industry.
“What you’re doing is wrong,” Trump said, in a video address at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Trump did not cite evidence or specifics of any wrongdoing, in a question-and-answer session with corporate leaders and CEOs assembled on stage.
He also referenced JPMorgan’s Dimon. “You and Jamie and everybody, I hope you’re gonna open your bank to conservatives.”
Trump said in an interview with CNBC earlier this week, “When I called him (Moynihan) after I was president to deposit a billion dollars plus and a lot of other things, more importantly, to open accounts, he said, ‘We can’t do it. No, we can’t do it.'”
Both lenders have denied the allegations of “debanking” on multiple occasions.
DOUG MCMILLON, CEO, WALMART
After Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said that the retailer could not absorb all tariff-related costs because of narrow retail margins, Trump lashed out.
“Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain. Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS last year, far more than expected,” Trump said in a social media post.
While Trump did not call out McMillon personally, he publicly criticized Walmart for attributing its price hikes in May to tariffs imposed by his administration.
In a social media post, Trump said Walmart and China should “eat the tariffs” and not burden American shoppers. He emphasized that Walmart’s financial strength should allow it to shield customers from price increases.
ADRIAN MARDELL, FORMER CEO, JAGUAR LAND ROVER
Trump criticized Jaguar’s recent rebranding effort, calling the campaign “woke” and “stupid,” and linking it to the departure of the company’s CEO.
The remarks from Trump came as the British carmaker, now owned by India’s Tata Motors, announced the retirement of CEO Adrian Mardell, who spent more than three decades at the company.
Jaguar last year unveiled a new logo and visual identity as part of a broader brand refresh aimed at repositioning itself as an all-electric automaker, a move that drew sharp online backlash and criticism from brand loyalists.
(Reporting by Deborah Sophia, Niket Nishant, Shivansh Tiwary and Savyata Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
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