Trump hosts Apple CEO Tim Cook at Mar-a-Lago

Donald Trump has hosted Apple CEO Tim Cook for dinner at the president-elect's Mar-a-Lago resort, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorised to comment publicly.

Cook is the latest in a string of big tech leaders - including OpenAI's Sam Altman, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon's Jeff Bezos - who have sought to improve their standing with the incoming president after choppy relations with Trump during his first term.

Trump has said he has spoken with Cook about the company's long-running tax battles with the European Union.

The Friday evening meeting came less than two months after Trump said he spoke to Cook by phone, and soon after Apple lost its last appeal in a dispute with the EU over 13 billion euros ($A22.5 billion) in back taxes to Ireland.

"He said the European Union has just fined us $15 billion," Trump recalled of his conversation with Cook, in an October interview with podcaster Patrick Bet-David. "Then on top of that they got fined by the European Union another $2 billion."

The decision by the EU top court was the finale to a dispute that centred on sweetheart deals that Dublin was offering to attract multinational businesses with minimal taxes across the 27-nation bloc. The European Commission in 2016 ruled that Ireland granted Apple unlawful aid that Ireland was required to recover.

Trump's transition team and Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment about his dinner with Cook.