Donald Trump's election will disrupt the global economic status quo and it has significant implications for our technology entrepreneurs as well. I have spent years advocating for practical change in U.S. trade and economic policy.
I'm very proud that several of my colleagues in this fight have helped to develop the Trump economic program. That plan and their bold advocacy inspired America's working class and propelled Trump through the "Blue Wall" of the rust belt and into the White House.
The promise of good jobs is what made the difference in this campaign despite all the protest over the candidate's personality flaws. Trump's economic platform offers significant challenges for incumbent tech firms and great opportunities for the new maker-generation manufacturing startups.
Trump's trade and economic policies are integrated into an industrial policy, something the political establishment has long eschewed but which our successful global competitors execute on very well; think of Germany or South Korea. Trump's plan creates jobs and wealth for all Americans rather than serving the interests of nominally American multinational firms.
The objective of too many American tech startups has been to gather U.S.-educated students (subsidized by taxpayers), exploit U.S. research (funded by taxpayers) and then collect capital from U.S. markets (often subsidized by taxpayers) while avoiding the establishment of businesses that actually made things in America or pay American taxes.
Business schools and venture capitalists have encouraged our young entrepreneurs to focus on software solutions that require few human workers or on hardware made cheaply in Shenzhen.