Enlarge (credit: Chris Foresman)

BRUSSELS—A war of words has erupted between Europe’s competition chief and Apple CEO Tim Cook after Ireland was ordered to reclaim €13 billion (£11.1 billion/$14.5 billion) in back taxes from the company.

Cook, in an interview with the Irish Independent, labelled Brussels’ competition chief Margrethe Vestager’s decision as “total political crap.” He claimed Ireland was being “picked on” and that he hoped to see the Irish government launch an appeal against the ruling.

On Tuesday, Vestager said that the European Commission’s two-year investigation had found Apple guilty of receiving illegal state aid from Ireland thanks to so-called sweetheart tax deals in 1991 and 2007. She said that Ireland allowed Apple to pay an effective corporate tax rate of one percent on its European profits in 2003, down to as low as 0.005 percent in certain years.