San Francisco: President-elect Donald Trump invited technology leaders to a discussion next week in New York where Silicon Valley will begin building relationships with an incoming administration it initially distrusted and mostly criticised.
Oracle Co-Chief Executive Officer Safra Catz, among the business leaders and politicians who met last month with Trump in the days after his election, will attend the technology discussion, according to Oracle. Also, Cisco Systems Chief Executive Officer Chuck Robbins plans to go.
The meeting is scheduled for 2pm December 14, with the agenda not yet decided, according to a copy of the invitation signed by venture capitalist Peter Thiel, Trump’s chief of staff Reince Priebus and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.
Technology leaders — who enjoyed a healthy relationship with President Barack Obama — often clashed with Trump during the campaign. The president-elect has stirred concerns over his positions on immigration, trade and a proclivity to single out companies for criticism on issues such as hiring or manufacturing.
Watering down rules
Big tech companies like Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft and Netflix may lose out if Trump and his advisers follow through on rhetoric about limiting visas for overseas tech workers, favouring domestic manufacturing over global supply chains and watering down net neutrality rules.
A spokesman for Trump’s transition team didn’t return requests seeking comment on the meeting.
Thiel, a Facebook Inc. board member, was one of the few public Trump backers from the tech industry and is a member of his transition team. Some executives of large US technology companies offered conciliatory words after the election and IBM CEO Ginni Rometty was among those named last week by Trump to an economic advisory panel that will begin meeting with him in February.
Facebook, Apple and Alphabet declined to say whether company executives had been invited or would attend. The planned discussion with Trump was reported earlier by USA Today and Politico.
