Shapiro 'Overwhelmed' By Trump Victory, But Sees 'a Lot of Positive' In It for Tech

From a “regulatory point of view,” Trump “could roll back” things that CTA members don’t like, Shapiro said. “He certainly said he’s freezing regulations, so the burden of regulations that even the Obama administration has talked about as a problem now is going to be reversed,” he said. “We’ve been very aggressive and active on a lot of stuff at the Department of Labor,” including overtime rules, he said. “There’s a lot of things going on that we have a good chance of making life easier for our industry.”

Shapiro is optimistic that the president-elect “is more likely to work on” the legislative remedies that are “important to us on Capitol Hill,” including a deal on “repatriation” tax reform, he said. Major companies have a lot of money sitting parked overseas that they can’t bring back to the U.S. because it will be taxed at a very high rate, he said. “Most of the companies with repatriation money are tech companies,” he said. “It’s Intel, it’s Qualcomm, it’s Apple. It’s even companies like Voxx and others -- they can’t get their money back from overseas, so there’s a deal to be made.” It’s good news that Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., will likely be the new Senate minority leader, working with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., “presumably” House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Trump “cutting deals,” Shapiro said.

“In the long term,” there’s “lots of emotions” around the social issues that may characterize Trump’s future Supreme Court nominees, Shapiro said. “On the business perspective, I feel really good about that, that he will have pro-business and business-friendly Supreme Court justices.”

Shapiro thinks he made “a good case” during the campaign as to why Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton would have been good for the tech industry, “especially with her in-depth knowledge on tech,” he said. “Trump, I think, will be positive in many ways. He’ll have a slower start. He won’t hit the ground running.” Trump’s “tech guy,” Jeffrey Eisenach, a member of Trump’s transition team, invited Shapiro to participate in an American Enterprise Institute event in June on cybersecurity, Shapiro said. “I’ve known him for many years. I have great respect for him. I don’t know where Jeff will end up, whether he’ll end up anywhere in a Trump administration, but we have a number of friends on the transition team, so we’ll see what happens.”

Acknowledging that during the campaign, he “disagreed pretty vehemently with a lot of the things Trump has said,” Shapiro said: “I did not vote for him.” In a mid-October Facebook post in which he announced his plans to vote for Clinton, Shapiro blasted Trump as “such a horrible immoral sexist, racist, nasty person he should not sit in the White House” (see 1610150001).

Shapiro was far from alone in the tech industry in not supporting Trump, he said. “In the technology industry, even John Chambers of Cisco tweeted yesterday that he voted for Hillary Clinton,” Shapiro said of Cisco’s executive chairman and former CEO. “He’s the most ardent Republican there is. I have talked to more technology industry executives who said this is the first time they’re voting Democrat.” Shapiro recalls that he didn't support President Barack Obama in 2008 or 2012, “and CTA survived and thrived, as did the industry,” he said. In “the Washington community, it’s fair to say there’s a lot of shock” about the Trump victory, Shapiro said. “Trump was not supported by the Republicans in Washington for the most part.”

Shapiro thinks Americans “and even the rest of the world would be making a mistake if they viewed the vote for Trump as a vote for racism or sexism,” he said. While “there may have been a tiny portion” of Trump supporters going to the polls to cast “a hate vote,” the majority was saying, “We want something done, we do not want paralysis,” he said. “And actually, if you think of the vote holistically, it’s a vote that’s saying, ‘Republicans, we’re giving you the keys to the kingdom now. You have the House, Senate and the presidency. Now make something happen.’”

High-skill immigration overhaul is one example “where the gridlock can be broken” in the new Congress, Shapiro said. Patent litigation change is another, especially now that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is retiring, he said. Reid “killed the legislation personally” because he got huge contributions from the trial lawyers lobby, he said. “As long as Reid was sitting in the Senate in a leadership position,” patent litigation reform “wasn’t going to happen,” he said. “Will it happen now? I don’t know, but we’ve removed an impediment.”

Shapiro said he has no doubt “this is going to be a Congress that’s going to get something done.” “The issue’s going to be, what is Trump going to prioritize? We’ve tried to figure it out, based on what he’s said, and it sounds like building a wall is a priority of his. Well, the truth is, he can’t get it built in four years. It’s just not going to happen. There’s a lot of legal reasons that have to do with eminent domain. And there’s funding issues.”

As for what Trump might prioritize after taking office, “I think he’ll do a deal on taxes and infrastructure,” Shapiro said. “That’s waiting to be done. Schumer said he wants to do it. You have the Democrat now who carries a lot of weight, and he’s a deal maker. Harry Reid is just a ‘I hate Republicans, no matter what they do’ guy. Schumer cuts deals all the time, and there’s a lot of hope there.” Trump is already eyeing infrastructure including telecom (see 1611090054).

If Shapiro has a big “concern” about a Trump presidency, it’s that the candidate “said a lot of things about trade and tariffs and manufacturing” that run counter to the positions held by the tech industry, including CTA, he said. “We are where we are today with trade agreements,” he said. “A president unilaterally cannot get out of them. So we are going to keep the status quo, probably for the next few years, in trade. I’d like to see the Trans-Pacific Partnership go through. A lot of people may try to get it through the lame-duck session. I don’t know if that’s going happen because of the way the vote went.” Trump made it “pretty clear he’s not going to sign the TPP deal,” Shapiro said.

People voted for Trump for “many reasons,” and “it’s not just about hate or white supremacy or even trade,” Shapiro said. “It’s about frustration that nothing was getting done in Washington. Now we have an opportunity to get things done. So what is it that he’s going to want to get done, that Congress will want to get done, and there will be enough Democrat votes to get done?” Shapiro thinks Trump is “a deal-cutter, and he’s going to be reaching across the aisle totally,” he said. “The question is, will Democrats play ball, or will they fight?”

CTA “had a really good day yesterday for Congress,” Shapiro said Wednesday. Of the 12 candidates CTA singled out for support, virtually all won their races, including Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the former CTA chairman, he said. “In terms of the presidency, it is what it is.” In voting for Clinton, and sparing few words in criticizing Trump, “my position was heartfelt, and it’s what I thought the right thing to do was,” he said. “On the other hand, just like Obama has invited Trump over to the White House tomorrow, we’ll be dealing with a Trump administration.” Shapiro is “less concerned than I was eight years ago, let me put it that way, in having taken on a popular person running for president and disagreeing with him publicly,” he said of Obama. Shapiro has been “pretty visible” in his criticism of Obama the past eight years, “and you know what, we did fine.”

Shapiro thinks “our economy will survive” a Trump presidency, and “we have a great shot at growth, especially because the Senate is Republican,” he said. “I was looking at a Clinton presidency and a Democratic Senate. In terms of the business outlook, it has improved remarkably.” What worries Shapiro most about a Trump presidency are “the large numbers of people in our society who are not white males,” he said. “There’s a lot of rhetoric he said that has been very hurtful and harmful and divisive. What also worries me is his potential on an international basis to say things or do things which are irresponsible in the long term.” But Shapiro has “a lot of good friends who supported Trump, and I don’t view them as being racist or sexist or unreasonable,” he said. “I think the American people wanted change.”

“With the holiday season upon us,” the National Retail Federation is relieved “that this unprecedented election is over, along with the divisive rhetoric and the impact it had on consumers concerned about their future,” President Matthew Shay said in a Wednesday statement. If the election “taught us anything, it is the importance of focusing on policies and programs that not only benefit today's economy, but the economy of the future and our next generation of workers,” Shay said. As President-elect Donald Trump “begins staffing his administration, we are hopeful that pragmatism will prevail over ideology so that all branches of government can work together for the benefit of retailers, their associates, the consumers they serve and the communities where they live and work," he said.

Business leaders have “a unique responsibility to bring our country back together” now that “this particularly difficult election” is over, the National Association of Manufacturers said in an open letter Wednesday to Trump. The letter was signed by 1,100 company and trade group heads, including CTA’s Shapiro, Fry’s Electronics President Randy Fry, Gibson Brands CEO Henry Juszkiewicz and Dean Garfield, president of the Information Technology Industry Council. “It is our shared belief that we, representing companies large and small, have an urgent need to restore faith in our vital economic and government institutions and to bolster the promise of America,” the letter said. “We will look for areas upon which we agree and can work productively with your new administration. To be sure, we are aware that there will be times when we disagree on the specifics of important policies, and we will respectfully make our voices heard when we do. We do believe, however, that we can be constructive -- both when we agree and when we do not -- if we can all approach challenging situations in good faith, guided by an unwavering commitment to a greater purpose.”