即将上台的特朗普政府拟议的关税和电动汽车政策将影响福特等底特律汽车制造商，后者正在努力扩大和销售其电动车型。① As US President-elect Trump takes office, big tech companies are scrambling to please the new president with money; ② Major US car companies are not willing to lag behind and recently joined the ranks; ③ According to media reports on Monday, Ford Motor Company and GM said on Monday that they will each donate 1 million US dollars and a fleet of vehicles for Trump's inauguration.
AFP, December 24 (Editor Bian Chun) With US President-elect Trump taking office, big tech companies are scrambling to please him with money. Large car companies are also not willing to lag behind; they have recently joined this ranks.
According to media reports on Monday, Ford Motor Company and GM said on Monday that they will each donate 1 million US dollars and a vehicle fleet for Trump's inauguration.
The upcoming Trump administration's proposed tariffs and electric vehicle policies will affect Detroit automakers such as Ford, which are working to expand and sell their electric models.
Trump proposed imposing broad tariffs on imported products from Mexico and Canada, and abolishing electric vehicle tax credits favorable to car companies such as Ford. This made the automotive industry nervous.
Ford CEO Jim Farley said earlier this month that he is optimistic that Trump is willing to listen to the company's views on these actions. “Given Ford's employment situation and importance in the US economy and manufacturing industry, you can imagine that the government would be very interested in Ford's views,” he said.
Last week, Meta and Amazon each donated $1 million to Trump's Inaugural Fund. Meta did not donate to Trump's first inauguration in 2017, nor did it donate to President Biden's 2021 inauguration. Amazon's donation this year far exceeds the $0.276 million it donated to President Biden's 2021 inauguration.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he would donate the same amount out of his own pocket. The move marks a shift for Altman, who has donated to Democratic candidates several times since 2013.
Meanwhile, before Trump took office, tech leaders, including Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Apple CEO Cook, and Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos, met with him one after another, and Trump's Sea-Lake Estate in Florida was broken through the threshold.
Trump has threatened to crack down on big tech platforms. Furthermore, Trump's tariff proposals have worried American tech hardware manufacturers that rely on foreign supply chains.