Apple has found a way to win Donald Trump’s trade war – by flattering the president. After Trump declared on Wednesday that the company would not be penalized in a new 100 percent tariff on semiconductors, global iPhone prices could have soared. Reuters reports that he made the exemption the same day Apple made two new $100 billion pledges to the U.S. and gifted Trump with a personalized statue.

The statue, CEO Tim Cook told Trump, is a work of glass created by Apple partner Corning, which produces specialty glass used in iPhones. Cut into a giant circle, it’s emblazoned with an oversized Apple logo that’s been etched into Corning’s glass. The piece is made of 24-karat gold and stands on a base with Trump’s name engraved. On that basis, Cook wrote “Made in America” and signed the note.

Trump, who has frequently called on corporations to produce more goods in the U.S., seemed to be impressed by the gift. He used the moment in the Oval Office to declare that Apple — and any other company that makes an effort to build U.S. factories — will pay “no charge” when a tariff on semiconductors goes into effect. That’s a big win for Apple, which has spent months dodging public criticism from the president about where its supply chain is based.

The company, however, has been under Trump’s gun for a few months. He got especially angry in the spring as Apple continued to move production to India rather than bringing it stateside. In April, Trump promised “Made in America” iPhones were coming. In May, he traveled to the Middle East, grumbling, “I have a little problem with Tim Cook” en route. At one point, the president reportedly told Cook directly, “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.”

The president has spoken often about making Apple produce more iPhones in the U.S., but analysts have long said it would be a difficult (and years-long) process. Despite the apparent openness of the transition, Trump and his team pushed ahead. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Apple was looking at “robotic arms” to produce in the U.S. at a level of precision to match the factories in China.

Despite his comments, Wednesday’s remarks make it clear the president is backing away from that hard line. While he threatened Apple with a 25 percent tariff on its iPhones if they weren’t assembled in the U.S., he now says Apple’s announcements were “a significant step toward the ultimate goal of ensuring that iPhones sold in America also are made in America.” In the short term, at least, he’s backed off the “build it in the U.S. now or else” demand.

Cook did confirm at least some iPhone components — semiconductors, glass, and Face ID modules, for example — are already being made in the U.S. But he didn’t offer a timeline for when the final assembly might happen domestically. “Will it be here at some point?” Cook said. “Maybe. But for a while, it will be there.”

This isn’t the first time Apple has walked a line between meeting Trump’s demands and saying little about the future. Trump’s first term was a masterclass in how to buy off the president with promises of U.S. investment while mostly ignoring his more aggressive demands. Trump touted Apple’s promise to build three “big, beautiful” plants in 2017; one was eventually built, but it manufactured face masks, not electronics. Apple also promised a new factory in Texas, which Trump later toured and claimed would be able to produce iPhones. In reality, the plant was dedicated to MacBooks, and there are still no iPhones in the mix.

Apple has since upped the ante, saying it will invest $600 billion in the U.S. over the next four years. That’s a staggering number, but according to Reuters, it’s also an amount the company has already spent in the past. It’s an amount analysts say Apple was already spending, and an amount that it would likely spend anyway under the Biden administration, or Trump’s first term. Pledges like that, Trump has said, could be met with retroactive tariffs if not met, but if anything, Apple is simply moving ahead with investments as planned. The decision to keep assembling iPhones in Asia remains, and the tariff calculus is unchanged — and Trump isn’t willing to make Apple pay for it, at least not now.

Wall Street agrees that Apple has found a workaround. Nancy Tengler, CEO and CIO of Laffer Tengler Investments, a firm that owns Apple shares, told Reuters it’s “a savvy solution to the president’s demand that Apple manufacture all iPhones in the U.S.”

Cook’s ability to charm and placate with symbolic gestures and calculated investments has bought the company some time in the trade war. Trump likes to talk about progress on “Made in America,” but Apple seems positioned to keep its more complex manufacturing in Asia while steering clear of a tariff that could have crippled its business.