Eh, his calculus was likely the following:

• Trump has in the past threatened economic or financial penalties over minor, and major, disagreements
• Trump is in his last term, so he likely isn’t concerned with the political, legal, etc. ramifications of his actions
• Apple, as a company, still manufactures the majority of its product lines outside the US
• Trump is still trying to use tariffs in the US to manipulate markets and force business actions
• Either I capitulate and save Apple from potentially billions in fiscal pain and / or years of legal representation to fight said pain, or make this change and avoid all of it
• The cost of this capitulation is mostly a PR / company image issue + plus dev time to implement the change, versus a very real monetary loss

I don’t agree with his decision, but given the options available I do agree trying to keep the peace with the vindictive, unstable world leader of Apple’s largest market is in their best interest.