Tech News: Trump’s Import Tax Cuts and Diversification with the Chinese-Mexican Import Trade Cuts in May Not Fail
Chief executives of leading Big Tech companies sent their best wishes to the President-elect. Sundar Pichai (Alphabet), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Tim Cook (Apple), Andy Jassy (Amazon), and Satya Nadella (Microsoft) have all sparred with Donald Trump before, but they were quick to get behind him as their companies face a fresh four years of operating under an influential politician who has proved volatile.
At the same time, Trump has vowed to back out of policies that might have hobbled growth for certain tech companies. The president-elect may also take a more hands-off approach when it comes to some tech mergers and acquisitions, analysts say.
And now, with Elon Musk as his biggest supporter, “this might be a moment in which there’s a picking of favorites amongst the big tech players,” says Betsy Cooper, director of the Aspen Policy Academy.
One of the most closely-watched Trump proposals among the tech crowd has been his proposed import tariff, which could have a massive impact on both tech companies and consumer spending. Last year, Trump floated the idea of a 10 percent universal tariff and later proposed an additional 60 percent tariff on imports from China and up to 100 percent tariff on goods from Mexico.
Apple might be less vulnerable than an initial reading of these tariffs might suggest, equity research firm Bernstein said in a bullish note released Wednesday, because of the company’s ability to absorb higher tariffs. Apple has also been diversifying its supply chain by producing products in different regions, like Vietnam.
Eight Years of Tech History: How the American Revolution Changed America and What We Can Do About It (and Why) It Has to Change Them
Eight years ago, the November US election results profoundly shocked the small staff at Backchannel, the boutique tech publication I headed. The morning after, an editor posted on our Slack that working on a technology story seemed tone-deaf, if not futile. On the way to San Francisco from New York, I wrote a column to answer the impulse directed at me and my colleagues. I argued that regardless of the enormity of this event, one thing hadn’t changed; the biggest story of our time was still the technological revolution we were living through. Lawmakers that are disruptive may come and go. The chip, network, mobile device, and all they did was change humanity and maybe what it means to be human. Our goal was to chronicle that transformation, no matter who was in charge. The headline was a statement about the size of the phone.
This week, Trump was once again elected president despite … oh hell, I won’t go through the litany of what would seem to be slam-dunk disqualifiers. You’ve heard it all, and to the majority of voters it doesn’t matter. The next couple of years will be remembered as the stuff of history. It might be not in a good way. Maybe in a very bad way for a country where many expected to celebrate its continuing values on America’s 250th birthday. I use the “Maybe” qualifier since winners should be a bit humble and who knows what’s ahead.
The policy of technology will always affect us, so we will definitely keep reporting on the Trump presidency. (Remember, the US government produced that thing called the internet.) A debate is raging over how to regulate or restrain artificial intelligence, a technology which some refer to as the last invention. I’m already hearing discussions about the new administration nixing the elaborate executive order on AI that Joe Biden mandated. Some worry that Musk’s influence in government policies will be inappropriate, as he builds his own company with Artificial Intelligence and is also an adviser for the new president. I’ve also heard speculation that the movement to regulate AI might be, um, trumped by the threat of China’s full-throated efforts in the field. The ground rules and quirks of the inventors may affect whether the worst fears about the technology come true.
Of course journalists must cover Trump’s second presidency vigorously, with relentless demands for accountability. In the short term—for some of us codgers it may be all of our remaining term!—what happens in our community and country will have a bigger influence on our daily lives than the latest version of Claude, ChatGPT, or even Apple Intelligence. (Sorry, Tim Apple.) The knowledge that Artificial intelligence, mixed reality, and quantum computers might one day redefine us won’t make a difference if we lose our health care, reproductive rights, or the right to deport us because of our president’s policies.
That’s why, the day after Donald Trump got reelected, I visited an AI company and interviewed one of its leaders and a top engineer. Yes, on the walk back to the office I thought about the election results and got depressed all over again. I will finish the article about the company, and do another on the tech side, as long as my broken heart continues to beat. AI, after all, is still the biggest story in town.
