During his presidential campaign, Republican Donald Trump, now president-elect, focused on decreasing immigration and global trade — issues that directly affect the technology industry, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Here are three considerations:
1. Immigration. The technology industry frequently recruits engineers and coders from abroad to meet its labor shortage; to address this trend, technology influencers like Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer have even launched efforts to lobby for immigration reform to increase foreign skilled workers in the United States.
Although Mr. Trump has said he supports skilled immigration, according to the Los Angeles Times, he has also stood in opposition to H-1B specialty occupation nonimmigrant visas — an avenue which currently allows highly skilled workers entry to the country.
2. Trade. Mr. Trump spent a substantial portion of his campaign discussing the role trade plays in the U.S. economy, including releasing a seven-point plan to rebuild the economy through fighting for free trade on his website.
The first two steps include withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and appointing "tough and smart trade negotiators to fight on behalf of American workers." However, some of Mr. Trump's rhetoric related to other countries, like China, has caused concern for businesses that do work oversees; for example, the fifth point of his free-trade plan notes to "instruct the Treasury Secretary to label China a currency manipulator."
"Companies such as Apple, for whom China is an important export market, may well suffer from the backlash," Dan Ridsdale, head of technology at Edison Investment Research, told the Los Angeles Times.
3. Investors. Although Mr. Trump's policies do not explicitly discuss investment, the Los Angeles Times notes that the environment of uncertainty surrounding Mr. Trump's unexpected victory "lands businesses in largely uncharted territory" — and investors tend to avoid uncertainty.
Even before Mr. Trump's win, the Los Angeles Times reported that stocks were falling, in part because the uncertainty surrounding the presidential election led traders to become more risk-averse.
At present, Mr. Trump has not released policy guidelines related to startups, digital free trade, internet governance, artificial intelligence or open data, all of which will significantly impact the technology industry, according to the Los Angeles Times.