Silicon Valley’s top CEOs are heading to New York City to take part in a tech policy roundtable with President-elect Donald Trump. The meeting is slated to occur tomorrow afternoon at Trump Tower.
According to the New York Times, those expected to attend include Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins, Oracle CEO Safra Catz, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, IBM CEO Ginni Rometty, Alphabet Chairman Eric Schmidt and CEO Larry Page, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Although it was initially unclear if Bezos and Musk would actually attend the event, Bloomberg is reporting today that both executives will be there.
The roundtable discussion was initiated by Trump’s Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, his son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner, and tech investor Peter Thiel. Thiel is a member of Trump’s transition team and is one of the few Silicon Valley executives to support Trump during the 2016 election.
According to various news reports, the meeting will focus on how tech companies can work with the new administration and what can be done to boost American jobs. Another topic likely to be addressed is the repatriation of offshore cash. Many of these companies hold billions of dollars overseas. They would likely return that money to the U.S. with a beneficial tax rate, which is something Trump is considering.
Silicon Valley’s tech leaders overwhelmingly supported Hillary Clinton in the election, primarily because of the social issues she endorsed. And last summer about 140 tech industry leaders sent an open letter to Trump chastising him for his views on immigration, Internet security, and government investment.
However, many insiders have noted that several of Trump’s initiatives like lower taxation, reduced regulation, and investment in infrastructure will likely benefit these companies.
Perhaps even more interesting than those that will attend the tech summit are the CEOs that will not attend. According to the New York Times, Uber CEO and Airbnb CEO were invited but are not attending because both are traveling overseas this week.