Tech Industry And Trump Have A Rocky Relationship, But Will Have Multiple Meetings This Month

The Trump administration will meet with major tech companies throughout the month of June to discuss various topics, according to a Recode report. The upcoming meetings are described as “tech week,” by sources familiar with the White House.

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Leaders from companies including Apple, Facebook, Google, Amazon, Intel and Oracle will get together with Trump’s team. Other firms invited were Adobe, Akamai and Qualcomm, which is in a legal battle with Apple. Trump transition team adviser Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal, will also attend the meetings.

The main event will be on June 19 for Trump’s new American Technology Council meeting. The companies’ chief executives will meet with the administration in Washington, D.C., to discuss ways to modernize government and the services it offers to Americans and will touch on policies like immigration, the report said. Later in the month, tech experts and the Trump team will discuss drones, the internet of things, autonomous cars, investments in emerging markets and the future of the country’s workforce.

Trump’s Rocky Relationship With The Tech Industry

The planned meetings come after the tech industry expressed its disappointment over Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement last week.

Trump ditched the Paris agreement saying it “disadvantages the United States” and would “undermine” the country’s economy. After the president announced his decision, elected officials, business leaders and tech companies spoke out against the decision. Parties, including Google, Lyft, Adobe, Tesla, Apple, Amazon and Yahoo! signed a “We’re Still In” statement vowing to work “together to take forceful action and to ensure that the U.S. remains a global leader in reducing emissions.”

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Apple CEO Tim Cook said Trump made the wrong decision regarding the Paris climate agreement.

“I think it’s not in the best interest of the United States what he decided,” Cook told Bloomberg. “My view is that first and foremost things are about, can you help your country and if you can help your country and you do that by interacting, then you do it. The country eclipses politics.”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who worked as an advisor for the Trump administration, left Trump’s business advisory councils after the president announced his decision.

“Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world,” Musk said when he announced his departure.

Trump previously met with tech leaders last December before he took office. Musk, Cook, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Alphabet CEO Larry Page, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and other tech leaders attended the summit at Trump Tower. At that time Trump praised the tech sector, promised to do "anything we can do" to help the industry and even told executives to call him or his people directly if they needed anything.

The affection didn’t last long. Tech leaders expressed their outrage after Trump introduced his travel ban in January.