From Silicon Valley to Wall Street, executives are lining up to "please" Trump

From Hollywood to Silicon Valley, and then to Wall Street, Trump's "opponents" have all "slid down to their knees."

According to the Financial Times, recently, many Democratic supporters from the election are seeking to meet with Trump to build good relations, and the frequency of Trump's meetings with business tycoons and celebrities is increasing. In Trump's circle, these meetings are seen as support for the new president and his economic policies.

On Monday, President-elect Trump met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at Mar-a-Lago. On Tuesday, Netflix's 60-year-old CEO Ted Sarandos walked into Trump's Mar-a-Lago to pay his respects and establish connections, having been a major donor to the Democrats for many years. On Wednesday, Trump also planned to meet with Amazon President Jeff Bezos...

In addition to meeting with Trump and announcing new investment plans, some executives and companies, such as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Bank of America, and JP Morgan, have also expressed their support for him by funding Trump's inauguration.

Trump's senior advisor Jason Miller stated:

"Some CEOs are indicating that they will become partners with the incoming government, and even if they have not politically supported Trump in the past, they want to focus on areas where they can collaborate. More domestic and foreign CEOs will visit next."

Different Motivations, but All Expecting Cooperation

Undoubtedly, the visiting celebrities have different motivations—Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and other executives from large tech companies hope for a more relaxed regulatory environment; merger and acquisition professionals particularly hope that Trump will reverse the policies pushed by Biden administration's Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, such as strict merger guidelines...

According to the Financial Times citing informed sources, the recent discussions have been relatively superficial, but the wish lists of corporate executives are quite long.

After all, Wall Street expects that Trump will reverse Biden administration policies once he takes office, with new policies including broad tariffs, mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, and subsidies for certain manufacturing sectors, which are detrimental to business development.

However, corporate executives view Trump as a negotiator capable of reaching agreements—and they have learned from past experiences that it is best to interact with Trump in a warm and flattering manner rather than criticizing him, to avoid public rebuttal or retaliation. Some executives believe their charm offensive is working.

Nikki Haley, Vice Chair of the public relations consulting firm Edelman, told the Financial Times:

"I tell CEOs that meeting with President Trump is a good thing, let him know what you are doing, tell him how your business is growing, it's a good thing. I haven't heard of any CEO being afraid of Trump."