The largest technology companies and executives gave millions to the inauguration of President Trump, hosted a black tie party and dinners in his honor and allowed him to announce and receive credit for new dollars’ new production projects.
But less than three months after the President’s second term, Mr Trump did not return their rich gestures favored me.
The sweeping invoices it imposed last week will get Apple’s supply chain and make it much more expensive for Amazon, Meta, Google and Microsoft for the manufacture of supercomputers for artificial intelligence. The president has reduced federal funding for research in emerging technologies such as AI and Quantum Computing. Migration immigration has caused fears that it will cut pipes for technological talents.
Trump’s administration has also marked that it will continue an aggressive regulatory stance to strengthen the power of the largest technology companies, starting next week with an antitrust milestone test to dismantle Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp.
From the inauguration, the combined market value of Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft decreased by 22 % to $ 10 trillion. And the Nasdaq Tech-Heavy index is reduced by 21 %.
The efforts for the court, Mr Trump are far from the industry’s approach to his first administration, when many technology leaders were openly hostile to the president. With a person and flattery, executives are hoping this time that Mr Trump could show technology more appreciation, including his efforts to release industries such as energy and cars.
Instead, the birth of Silicon Valley’s leading leaders can be a wrong reading about how to achieve Mr Trump’s Washington, according to Democratic and Democratic Policy Experts.
The relationship that technology executives have with the president was a “one -way road”, said Gigi Sohn, a former senior adviser to the Federal Committee of Communications under Biden. “They give him everything. And he promises nothing, which in this case is good.”
This didn’t stop them from trying. Last week, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was in the White House to try to persuade the administration to settle the federal committee’s antitrust committee against META. Technology leaders, such as Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive, have also visited the White House in recent weeks.
Companies have said they want to deal with Mr Trump on various issues and that they are considering the impact of long -range policies. Apple, Google, Meta and Amazon refused to comment.
The White House did not respond to a request for comments.
The hostilities between the technology industry and Mr Trump date back to at least 2016, when multiple technology executives have approved Hillary Clinton for president and donated to her campaign. After Mr Trump was elected, technology leaders criticized the ban on the president’s immigration to Muslims and his skepticism for COVID-19 vaccines.
Mr Trump’s first administration took a harsh regulatory stance for the industry, submitting lawsuits of antitrust law against Google and Meta. He pulled against social media and other internet giants to censor him and gather excessive power. He also blamed the platforms for contributing to the loss of his elections in 2020.
The public tone of the technology industry to Mr Trump shifted sharply last year after being injured in an attempt to assassinate.
After all, Mr Zuckerberg called him “Badass”. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, praised Mr Trump for “Grace Under Fire”. Elon Musk, who is leading the SpaceX rocket company, the Tesla electric automotive industry and the X -media platform, approved Mr Trump and continued to hit and donate $ 300 million to his campaign.
After the election, Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, along with Meta, Google and Amazon, gave $ 1 million each to the inauguration. Many of the executives travel to Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s resort in Palm Beach, Fla. And at the inauguration, Mr Musk, Mr Bezos, Mr Zuckerberg, Mr Cook and Mr Pichai appeared on the DAIS next to the members of the cabinet.
“If you look at the inauguration, look at the people at this stage – here was who was who was a world that was completely against me for the first time,” Mr Trump said recently in an interview with Clay Travis of Outkick, a sports and news site.
There have been some benefits. Mr Musk is now a close adviser to the president, and critics say his businesses are likely to reap rewards from his proximity. Mr Trump has also signed executive orders delaying the sale or ban of Tiktok, as reported by a law passed last year for concerns about the safety of the Chinese parent company of the ByTedance application.
Despite the cutting of his federal funding, Mr Trump has opened the door to an ongoing regulatory contact with the AI, which has declared his top priority to beat China in a fight for global technological leadership. Last month, Google, Microsoft, Meta and other technology giants made suggestions, asking the administration to stay off the way.
And US regulators have almost completely disassembled a year of government repression in the encryption industry, an unstable sector filled with fraud, scams and theft. This benefits companies, including business capital company Andreessen Horowitz, an important investor in the field.
However, technology companies continue to face intense pressure under the current Trump administration.
The new leaders appointed to the Ministry of Justice and the FTC showed no sign of support in a series of antitrust costumes filed against Google, Meta, Amazon and Apple.
Mr Trump chose Gail Slater, a veteran lawyer and a technology vocal critic, to lead the Department of Antitropolis to the Ministry of Justice. Mr Trump underlined the importance of her role to eliminate Silicon Valley’s strong giants during his announcement.
“Big Tech has run wild for years, drowning competition in our innovative sector and, as we all know, using market power to break the rights of so many Americans and those of Little Tech!” Mr Trump said in a position on Truth Social, the social media platform.
The president also appointed Andrew Ferguson, who expressed his concerns about the power of social media companies, as president of FTC next week, Mr Ferguson will lead the antitrust against Meta, in which the government accuses Facebook of buying Instagram and whatsapp before her on social networking.
It is not clear whether Mr Zuckerberg’s efforts to secure a settlement will be successful. But finally, any decision on whether or not to proceed with the president will be made, Mr Ferguson said last week at a conference held by Tech Start-Up Encubator Y Combinator in Washington.
“The head of the president’s executive industry and I think it’s important for me to obey legal orders,” he said when asked if he would throw a suit like the Meta case, if Mr Trump.
“I think the president recognizes that we have to enforce the laws, so I would be very surprised if that has ever happened,” he added.
Perhaps the biggest blow to the technological industry came in the form of invoices last week. Apple, one of the most difficult companies, produces 90 % of the iPhones it sells worldwide in China, where invoices, which were already 20 %, are expected to increase to 34 % this week.
“These invoices will increase consumer prices and force our trade partners to react,” said Gary Shapiro, chief executive of the Consumer Technology Association of a commercial team. “Americans will become poorer because of these invoices.”
