White House Expects Several Follow-Up Tech Meetings

The White House will follow up Thursday’s tech executive meeting (see 1811300036) with additional tech-related gatherings, administration officials said during a news-media call speaking on condition they not be identified. Asked if Amazon, Apple and Facebook were invited Thursday, an official said she believed everyone who was invited attended. Apple CEO Tim Cook was floated as a potential participant for future meetings. Apple and Amazon didn’t comment. Facebook wasn't invited Thursday, a spokesperson said. Thursday’s attendees were said to have included Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, IBM CEO Ginni Rometty, Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf, Oracle CEO Safra Catz, Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Rafael Reif, Carnegie Mellon University President Farnam Jahanian, Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Administration participants included White House Deputy Chief of Staff-Policy Coordination Chris Liddell, Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow, National Economic Council Deputy Director-Economic Policy Shahira Knight and advisers Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump and Kevin Hassett. The meeting was to have focused on artificial intelligence, 5G and quantum computing.