The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
US CEOS meet Trump amid tension over travel ban, taxes
CHIEF EXECUTIVE officers (CEOS) of major companies huddled with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday, as the business community is increasingly split over how to respond to his policies, especially a travel ban announced last week.
Trump kicked off the meeting with CEOS including Jamie Dimon of Jpmorgan Chase & Co and Indra Nooyi of Pepsico Inc, saying the group would discuss peeling back banking rules and declaring that companies would bring new jobs to the US.
CEOS including Elon Musk of Tesla Inc have said they planned to raise objections at the talks to Trump’s weekold executive order halting travel to the US for people from seven Muslimmajority countries. Business leaders have been divided in their approach on taxes and immigration, and some are wary of working with a president who uses his platform to attack companies that vex him, such as threatening penalties for manufacturing outside the United States. The leaders, which also included Mary Barra of General Motors Co and Jim Mcnerney, formerly of Boeing Co, are part of a business advisory panel Trump announced in December. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick quit the group under pressure from activists over the order. Musk defended his own decision to participate, saying that going to the meeting did not mean he agreed with Trump’s actions.
Tech companies, which have broad concerns about Trump’s immigration plans, raised the sharpest outcry among firms at the travel ban.
Executives from Ford Motor Co also criticised the ban, but others, including General Motors and Jpmorgan Chase have not taken a position.