Key tech sector executives were set to gather this week with President-elect Donald Trump, in a meeting aimed at setting common goals after a divisive election campaign.
Among those confirmed to attend were Facebook’s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg and Oracle chief executive Safra Catz, those companies said.
Media reports said others expected to be in attendance Wednesday in New York included CEOs Tim Cook of Apple, Satya Nadella of Microsoft, Larry Page of Alphabet, Brian Krzanich of Intel and Chuck Robbins of Cisco.
Other possible attendees include Amazon founder and chief Jeff Bezos, as well as Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX.
Apple and Intel declined to comment on the meeting. The other firms did not respond to an AFP query.
The meeting comes following a campaign where the overwhelming majority of tech leaders backed Democrat Hillary Clinton, and some warned of threats to the sector from a Trump presidency.
One notable exception was Peter Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal and early Facebook investors who was among the few Silicon valley figures to openly support Trump, and who is working on the Republican billionaire’s transition team.
Late last month, a group of 17 tech associations offered to work with Trump while calling for policies to “foster growth and innovation.”
While the tech sector is likely to oppose any trade barriers or efforts to limit immigration, many companies are expected to welcome a lowering of taxes, especially on profits repatriated from overseas.
Tech firms led by Apple are holding the lion’s share of an estimated $2.5 billion being held overseas by US companies, reluctant to bring those funds back and face a hefty tax bill.
A potential clash between Trump and the sector is possible over encryption, and the ability of law enforcement and intelligence services to decrypt devices for national security investigations.
Source: AFP
