Apple CEO Tim Cook will visit the White House later this month for the first meeting of U.S. President Donald Trump's American Technology Council, a report revealed on Thursday. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella are also expected to be in attendance, but Facebook has not yet responded to its invitation to the event.
The meeting, which was formed as part of an effort to modernize government technology and digital services, will include a gathering of top executives followed by smaller sessions on specific topics, such as technology sales to government agencies and cloud computing, according to Bloomberg.
The council will be led by Trump's son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner and will be attended by government officials including the U.S. chief technology officer, said people with knowledge of the matter. Eleven companies have been invited to participate in the June 19 summit, .
The meeting comes just a few weeks after Cook and Nadella publicly criticized the Trump administration for its decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. Technology companies including Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Facebook have also been critical of a proposed U.S. travel ban on passengers from majority-Muslim countries, with the companies being among 97 that filed a legal brief in February opposing the ban.
Trump held a roundtable discussion with tech executives in December, before his inauguration. The meeting focused on jobs, trade, immigration, and China relations. Afterwards, industry leaders said an area of broad agreement was the potential for the Trump administration to innovate in government services.
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Top Rated Comments
Regardless of his politics, Tim is doing the right thing by participating. A boycott would be completely stupid. Having a voice on the council means he can advocate for, among other things, the privacy issues that much of the tech community is concerned about.
Tim Cook shouldn't be on the stage, but that doesn't mean he's not a good CEO, would I like Steve back, yes, but he's dead.(RIP)
(Hairforce one should take Tim's place.)
Trump is just a spoiled brat, a con man, juvenile/childish.
Edited for spelling