December 15, 2016•Update: December 15, 2016
By Barry Eitel
SAN FRANCISCO
President-elect Donald Trump hosted a summit Wednesday for luminaries in the technology industry, including Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella, Apple CEO Tim Cook and SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
During the meeting, which lasted for several hours at Trump’s business headquarters in New York City, the incoming president attempted to build rapport with the Silicon Valley leaders, many of whom were vocal supporters of his opponent, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Also in attendance were Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Alphabet CEO Larry Page, Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, Oracle co-CEO Safra Catz; IBM CEO Ginni Rometty and Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins.
Noticeably absent was the leader of Trump’s seemingly favorite tech product; Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey was not invited.
Trump promised to improve international trade deals during the huddle and keep open lines of communication between Silicon Valley and the White House. He also announced that Musk and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick would become official advisors on policy.
“You're doing well right now and I'm very honored by the bounce...so right now everybody in this room has to like me,” Trump said to the gathered executives.
Vice President-elect Mike Pence was at the meeting, along with Trump’s three adult children and incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus.
“Today's tech summit included productive discussions about job creation and economic growth,” Priebus, currently the chairman of the Republican National Committee, tweeted after the meeting. “We're on track to make America first again.”
Many in the tech industry are concerned that Trump could use platforms like Twitter or Facebook to help create a database for Muslims, a project he discussed multiple times while campaigning. Hundreds of tech workers, including Dorsey, and activists have sharply criticized the idea of a registry for Muslims.
“Targeting Muslims in the ways Trump has proposed is not only ineffective and would do nothing to keep the country safe, but it is also deeply immoral,” Eddie Kurtz, the executive director of activist group Courage Campaign, announced in a statement Wednesday. “It would repeat mistakes made during some of the darkest days of America's past. This is a line that tech companies like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and others must not cross.”
