Jun 21 2017 : The Times of India (Chennai)
FB, Tesla CEOs skip meet with Trump
US President Donald Trump and top tech titans from Silicon Valley engaged in a spirit of constructive cooperation on Monday , despite deep misgivings, in a meeting that appeared to result, among other things, in a softening of the Trump administration's hardline stance on work visas.Calling them “special people“ who are at the “absolute cutting edge of innovation,“ Trump pledged to work “very diligently with everybody , including Congress, on immigration.“ The meeting, helmed by Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and Trump's almost solitary support from Silicon Valley, billionaire investor Peter Thiel, had listed the H1-B visa issue for discussion. It's been a tremendous pro blem that you've had over the past long period of time. So we're working very hard on that and we'll be able to solve that problem,“ President Donald Trump promised, casting what New Delhi insists is purely a trade and commerce matter as an immigration issue.
The question posed in a briefing document for attendees to the meeting was “How can the H-1B program be mo can the H-1B progr dified to ensure that visas are issued to the highestskilled and highestpaid workers, while also eliminating examples of the program's abuse?“ Still, it was the first time Trump had responded directly and positively to complaints from Silicon Valley that his position on visa and immigration issues was adversely affecting their staffing.
Three Indian-American CEOs -Microsoft's Satya Nadella, Mastercard's Ajay Banga, and Adobe's Shantanu Narayen -were among 18 executives who attended the meeting, a follow-up of Trump's initial outreach to Silicon Valley soon after he was elected last November. Apple's Tim Cook, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, IBM CEO Ginni Rometty , and Intel CEO Brian Krzanich were among those who attended. Ties between the mostly liberal, Democrat leaning Silicon Valley and Trump have been cool over is sues such as climate change, work visas, and immigration.
Monday's meeting had no representation from Facebo ok (which cited scheduling conflict for Zuckerberg's ab sence) and Tesla, whose CEO Elon Musk stepped down from the tech advisory panel after the administration's controversial decision to withdraw the US from the Pa ris climate agreement.
Typical of Trump, he twitted the tech titans even as he praised them, pointing out that he had created more wealth (through a stock market boom since he became President) than their combined value. “We have approximately $3.5 trillion of market value in this room -but that's almost the exact number we've created since my election. In fact, I think we have you beat by a little bit, which is a pretty good number,“ he joked.
The question posed in a briefing document for attendees to the meeting was “How can the H-1B program be mo can the H-1B progr dified to ensure that visas are issued to the highestskilled and highestpaid workers, while also eliminating examples of the program's abuse?“ Still, it was the first time Trump had responded directly and positively to complaints from Silicon Valley that his position on visa and immigration issues was adversely affecting their staffing.
Three Indian-American CEOs -Microsoft's Satya Nadella, Mastercard's Ajay Banga, and Adobe's Shantanu Narayen -were among 18 executives who attended the meeting, a follow-up of Trump's initial outreach to Silicon Valley soon after he was elected last November. Apple's Tim Cook, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, IBM CEO Ginni Rometty , and Intel CEO Brian Krzanich were among those who attended. Ties between the mostly liberal, Democrat leaning Silicon Valley and Trump have been cool over is sues such as climate change, work visas, and immigration.
Monday's meeting had no representation from Facebo ok (which cited scheduling conflict for Zuckerberg's ab sence) and Tesla, whose CEO Elon Musk stepped down from the tech advisory panel after the administration's controversial decision to withdraw the US from the Pa ris climate agreement.
Typical of Trump, he twitted the tech titans even as he praised them, pointing out that he had created more wealth (through a stock market boom since he became President) than their combined value. “We have approximately $3.5 trillion of market value in this room -but that's almost the exact number we've created since my election. In fact, I think we have you beat by a little bit, which is a pretty good number,“ he joked.
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