This article is more than 1 year old

Donald Trump confirms TPP to be dumped, visa program probed

Doubles down on new cyber-defence plan, too, even though USA already has one

United States president-elect Donald Trump has released a statement outlining the things he plans to do in his first 100 days in office, three of which will impact the technology industries.

In the video, Trump re-states his policy to create a new cyber-defence plan for America.

“I will ask the Department of Defence and the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to develop a comprehensive plan to defend America's infrastructure from cyber attacks and all other form of attacks.” The Department of Defence's Cyber Strategy already lists “Defend the U.S. homeland and U.S. national interests against cyberattacks of significant consequence” as one of its three missions, so it is unclear exactly what new plans Trump expects.

Later in the video Trump outlines his immigration policy, which will see him “... direct the Department of Labor to investigate all abuses of visa programs that undercut the American worker.”

That language sounds like Trump may be referring to H-1B visas, the entry permit offered to those with university degrees and an offer of employment in the United States. During the campaign Trump labelled H-1Bs as unfair to American workers, as it is felt that some companies leave vacancies open specifically to entice workers who will happily accept lower salaries than American citizens. The carrot for such workers is that the H-1B offers a pathway to permanent residency.

Whatever workers' and employers' motivation, Trump campaigned against H-1Bs and even if this video did not address them directly, they are almost certainly among the visa programs the investigation will probe.

Trump's first item in the announcement is his intention to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Doing so is a mixed bag for the technology industry: on the downside it loses tougher anti-counterfeiting provisions, harmonized intellectual property registration arrangements, a permanent removal of duties on e-commerce, common anti-Spam laws, a requirement that companies don't need to build data centers as a prerequisite for doing business in signatory nations and commitments to co-operation among telecommunications companies.

The TPP also committed signatories to provide paperless transactions between business and government. American businesses therefore won't be spared red tape as they do business with the nations that negotiated the treaty.

On the upside, internet service providers will be spared new requirements to monitor copyright breaches. Copyright extensions also look likely to fall off the table. ®

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like