Today, President Obama met with members of the Technology CEO Council to discuss 21st century economic and security issues including trade, cybersecurity, immigration and tax reform. Growing U.S. exports to support new opportunities for our workers and businesses is a top priority for the President and the members of the Council, who reiterated their commitment to building bipartisan support for Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) as a critical first step towards strong new trade agreements with high standards in critical areas such as labor, environment, and technology services.
The President also highlighted our continued progress towards fixing our broken immigration system — including a final rule announced last week that gives U.S. work authorization to spouses of certain high-skilled immigrant workers who are approved for a green card and waiting for one to become available. The President and the Tech CEO Council agreed that immigration reform remains an imperative for our nation and high tech sector, and that we should continue striving for comprehensive reform that will fix our broken immigration system once and for all.
The group also shared concerns on cybersecurity and agreed to work with the Administration and Congress to develop better methods to help protect our critical infrastructure and privacy. The President and the executives also discussed a shared desire to work with Congress to enact pro-growth, business tax reform.
Participants Included:
Ursula Burns, Chairman and CEO, Xerox Corp.; Chair of Tech CEO Council
Michael Dell, Chairman and CEO, Dell Inc.
Mark Durcan, CEO and Director, Micron Technology Inc.
Steve Mollenkopf, CEO, Qualcomm Inc.
Ginni Rometty, Chairman, President and CEO, IBM Corp.
Joe Tucci, Chairman and CEO, EMC Corp.
White House Participants:
Valerie Jarrett, White House Senior Advisor
Jeff Zients, Director of the White House National Economic Council
Megan Smith, Chief Technology Officer