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Trump has already picked fights with Jeff Bezos and Tim Cook. Could Mark Zuckerberg be next?
The incoming Trump administration stands to change all of this. Earlier this year, Trump called for a boycott against Apple for resisting a F.B.I. order to unlock an iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino shooters. “Boycott Apple until such time as they give that information,” Trump declared at the time. “It just occurred to me.” Ever an anti-globalist, Trump has called repeatedly for the tech giant to stop manufacturing their products overseas, and to relocate all manufacturing to the United States—a logistical feat that would be virtually impossible to execute. Trump has also taken particular aim at Amazon C.E.O. and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, whose paper has repeatedly criticized him and launched numerous investigations into his personal life, business practices, and family charity. “He thinks I’ll go after him for anti-trust,” Trump said in May. “Because he's got a huge anti-trust problem because he’s controlling so much. Amazon is controlling so much of what they are doing. . . . He’s using The Washington Post, which is peanuts. He’s using that for political purposes to save Amazon in terms of taxes and in terms of anti-trust.”http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/...silicon-valleyTrump’s positions on immigration could also be deeply disruptive for the tech industry, which thrives on the availability of foreign computer programmers, who are in short supply. Earlier this year, dozens of tech leaders, including Mark Zuckerberg, Reid Hoffman, Ron Conway, and Max Levchin, signed onto a brief submitted to the Supreme Court in favor of Obama’s executive actions, arguing that allowing the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the country to contribute to the U.S. economy would benefit the country and tech industry. Yet Trump has stated his opposition to the H-1B non-immigrant visas that would allow highly skilled immigrants to pursue careers at tech companies.
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