On Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump met with thirteen tech elites in Trump Tower of Manhattan. The meeting was closed to the public and the press, but several attendees have chosen to discuss the contents of the meeting so long as they remained anonymous.
Absent was Trump's aggressive and blustery style of persuasion. He instead opted for a new tactic: flattery and receptiveness.
"This is a truly amazing group of people," Trump stated. "We want you to keep going with the incredible innovation. There's nobody like you in the world. In the world, there's nobody like the people in this room." Among those in the meeting were Apple Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tim Cook, Tesla founder Elon Musk, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Alphabet CEO Larry Page and IBM's Ginni Rometty.
The President-elect, of course, attempted to take partial credit for the recent success of the tech industry. Trump claims that "the bounce" was caused by his recent election and alludes to his image as a successful businessman. "I want to add that I'm here to help you folks do well. And you're doing well right now. And I'm very honored by 'the bounce,' they're all talking about 'the bounce,' so right now everybody in this room has to like me, at least a little bit." His argument is based on the premise that investors feel safe with his presidency and have increased their spending accordingly. Unfortunately for Trump, most tech companies have actually been lagging since the election, corresponding more closely to the drop in stock prices on November 9th, the day after the election.
Two of the most prominent issues discussed at the meeting were immigration and education. Immigration has been a key part of Trump's campaign; he proposed a Muslim ban, building a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border, and was a proponent of the unconstitutional "Show Me Your Papers," laws. Tech executives were understandably anxious about the potential of an immigration freeze―tech companies rely heavily on being able to predict or create the next trend, which involves bringing in talent from other countries. Satya Nadella, Microsoft's CEO, was the first to bring up the possibility of increasing the number of H-1B visas that tech companies can sponsor. According to Recode, Trump responded favorably, asking Nadella and others at the table, "What can I do to make it better?"
On the issue of education, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Facebook Chief Operating Officer (COO) Sheryl Sandberg emphasized the importance of furthering Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education. Furthering the reach of STEM fields, they argued, had been a crux of President Barack Obama's administration. Sandberg also advocated for increasing STEM outreach to women and underrepresented minority groups, including the issue of paid maternity leave. Trump largely ignored the issue of STEM education, but did point to his six-week maternity leave plan, which was unveiled towards the end of his campaign and heavily influenced by his daughter, Ivanka Trump. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton had proposed a twelve-week maternity leave plan during her campaign.
Also briefly discussed were job creation and tax increases for companies with manufacturers abroad. Trump has been relatively inconsistent on the latter issue, stating both that he wants fair trade deals (which would cut taxes), while also proposing double digit tariffs between 20 and 45 percent. A tangible compromise was not reached during the meeting that we know of.
The meeting is indicative of how Trump's presidency may proceed. Trump's three eldest children―Eric, Ivanka, and Donald Jr.―attended the meeting, as well as Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. None of them are cabinet members, and tech execs stated that the move was highly inappropriate and once again alludes to potential conflicts of interest between the Trump presidency and his businesses.
In addition, the makeup of the meeting highlights both Trump's pettiness and his lack of consistency. Trump slammed numerous tech giants during his campaign, most notably Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Last December, Trump tweeted: "The @WashingtonPost, which loses a fortune, is owned by @JeffBezos for purposes of keeping taxes down at his no profit company, @Amazon." In another tweet, he stated, "If @Amazon ever had to pay fair taxes, its stock would crash and it would crumble like a paper bag. The @WashingtonPost scam is saving it!" Most of the executives invited to this meeting vocally supported Trump's opponent, Secretary Clinton.
Absent from the meeting was Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, despite Twitter being Trump's favorite mode of communication with his supporters. The reason, as reported by Politico, is because Twitter refused to make Trump a custom emoji during his campaign. It is clear that many of these executives who attended Trump's meeting did so to avoid Trump's vengeful streak. The President-elect could do serious damage to their businesses if he felt slighted. For now, it seems as though Trump is trying to make nice with these economic giants.
