Tech CEOs spent millions of dollars on donations to president Donald Trump's campaign and inauguration, and by bending the knee after he was elected.
But instead of facing a reinvigorated and less regulated tech market in return, they've instead gotten a kick in the teeth.
As the New York Times reports, Trump's disastrous tariff war has caused the global stock market to crater, sending economic uncertainty soaring. And the global supply chains that big tech companies have been relying on for decades have been thrown into chaos.
Even investment in the hottest thing in tech right now — artificial intelligence — could take a massive hit, as the cost of building out already-expensive data centers is expected to rise dramatically.
It's a bizarre situation. Trump himself has appeared keen to keep the AI gravy train going, overseeing the signing of a $500 billion AI infrastructure deal dubbed Stargate. Yet his trade war could make AI companies' commitments difficult to hold up in the longterm as foreign-made chips could soon spike in price.
In short, Trump's trade war could lead to a major falling out with big tech. Apple, in particular, has felt the hurt, reportedly flying planes full of iPhones into the US ahead of Trump's latest round of tariffs coming into effect.
That's despite Apple CEO Tim Cook cozying up to Trump, donating $1 million to his inauguration and promising to spend half a trillion dollars in the US back in February.
But despite paying lip service to the idea of moving manufacturing to the US, Apple hasn't fulfilled that promise for any of its major products.
Instead, it tried to lower its reliance on China by moving assembly lines to India and Vietnam instead — countries that have since been hit with 26 and 46 percent tariffs, respectively.
Tech CEOs who were hoping to encounter fewer regulatory hurdles with the Trump administration could soon face even more headwinds. The White House has signaled that it's looking to continue Biden-era antitrust cases looking to break up big tech companies, per the NYT.
"Big Tech has run wild for years, stifling competition in our most innovative sector and, as we all know, using its market power to crack down on the rights of so many Americans, as well as those of Little Tech!" Trump wrote in a January post on Truth Social.
In short, tech leaders' efforts to get in the president's good graces are far from paying off.
Just last week, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg visited the White House to beg him to settle an antitrust lawsuit against the company. Legislators are worried Trump could simply drop the case, an investigation that has been going on for almost six years.
Even after prostrating himself to Trump, though, it's easy to imagine that the president will simply allow the case to proceed.
More on Trump: Elon Musk Reportedly Begged Donald Trump to Reverse the Tariffs
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