Stop building in China, hiring in India, Trump warns tech majors

TOI CORRESPONDENT FROM

WASHINGTON: US President and MAGA supremo Donald Trump issued an ominous warning on Wednesday to American tech companies operating overseas, asking them to prioritise hiring workers in the US rather than creating jobs in India and China.

In remarks at an Artificial Intelligence summit in New York, Trump called for an end to what he called "radical globalism", emphasising the need to shift to "a new spirit of patriotism and national loyalty in Silicon Valley & beyond" to help the US win the AI race. "Many of our largest tech companies have reaped the blessings of American freedom while building their factories in China, hiring workers in India, and slashing profits in Ireland...

under President Trump, those days are over," he said, striking at the heart of the tech industry's global operations. His remarks came weeks after he explicitly asked Apple and Tesla to reel back on manufacturing in India.'America started AI race & it will win it' Trump's remarks came weeks after he explicitly asked Apple and Tesla to reel back on manufacturing in India while at the same time tightening the screws on trade with New Delhi, arguing that the US was being ripped off by high tariffs.

Although the focus of Trump's engagement on Wednesday was AI, he made it clear he expected all US companies to abandon hiring overseas in spirit of nationalism. "America is the country that started the AI race - and as President of the US, I'm here today to declare that America is going to WIN it," Trump said, following up his remarks by signing three executive orders to ramp up spending on AI. Trump's AI gambit came after months of frenetic activity bordering on panic in the US after China's remarkable advances that many experts said would result in it leapfrogging America.

As comparisons were made to the "Sputnik moment" when the US was galvanised by former Soviet Union briefly overtaking US in space race, Trump pledged he would never allow that to happen. Trump's screed against globalisation was largely received with a shrug in tech circles, where globalisation is considered irreversible given the complex supply chain logistics that span the world. Tech companies such as Google, Microsoft and IBM, all of which currently have India-born CEOs, not only have big operations in India, but also see India as a huge market. According to American Chamber of Commerce in India, US companies have created "gainful engagement for more than 5 million people" in India. As of 2024, there were approximately 1,800 offshore corporate offices in India, a majority of them American, employing almost two million people. Major players like IBM, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Dell maintain large workforces in India, tapping into talent and skill sets that are in short supply in the US despite claims to the contrary.