President-elect Donald Trump speaks as PayPal co-founder and Facebook board member Peter Thiel, Apple CEO Tim Cook Photograph: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
Tech executives and Silicon Valley insiders are having second thoughts about placing all of their chips on Donald Trump in the 2024 election, betting he would be great for the industry and are now discovering otherwise.
According to a report from the Washington Post, there was great hope that the president's plan to gut regulations and shy away from anti-trust lawsuits would be a boon to the technology sector but, after 75 days in office, his reliance on tariffs has impacted not only their complex manufacturing capabilities but has also had a devastating effect on their stock values.
As the Post's Will Oremus, Naomi Nix and Gerrit De Vynck wrote, what was once excitement has turned to growing regret.
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"There is still hope in Silicon Valley that Trump will deliver deregulation at home, juice the start-up economy by allowing more mergers, and use the tariffs as a stick to beat back foreign countries’ efforts to tax and regulate American tech firms," they wrote. "But in the chaotic first months of his administration, the tech giants that invested in cozying up to him have yet to see such returns. Industry insiders and observers expressedgrowing concern that this administration may not have its interests at heart after all."
One tech lobbyist conceded, "We are not a sympathetic victim.”
Noting the tech CEO's threw millions at Trump to get him elected and bankroll his inauguration in hopes of getting on his good side, they are now finding they are collateral damage in his wide-ranging trade war.
"In the two days after Trump’s tariff was announced, Apple’s stock dropped16percent, Meta was down 14 percent and Amazon fell 13 percent. According to estimates from Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index, Tesla CEO Elon Musk personally lost $110 billion from his net worth so far this year, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos $37.6 billion and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg $18.6 billion. Bezos is the owner of The Washington Post," the report states.
According to Sean Murphy, executive vice president of policy at lobbying group Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), it's not just stock value that are being undermined, but also the costs associated with "supply chains for device makers like Apple" and structural infrastructure that will see costs explode due to tariffs on steel and aluminum.
Murphy added the industry would like to see the tariffs “reversed as quickly as possible” and then admitted, "We’d like to put this chapter behind us."
You can read more here.