IBM’s CEO Ginni Rometty has written an open letter to Donald Trump, the US president elect, offering him suggestions on jobs, health and infrastructure while backing his corporate tax reforms.
The letter said IBM supports Trumps plans for the tax system saying “Many billions of dollars of American companies’ earnings do not come home because of an outdated and punitive tax system. Your tax reform proposal will free up capital that companies of all sizes can reinvest in their U.S. operations, training and education programs for their employees, and research and development programs. We will support the efforts of your administration and Congress to pass tax reform early in 2017.”
On the jobs front it said IBM had “hired more U.S. employees last year than in the previous five years. We are opening new innovation centers and business units across the country. We are proud of the work we do here in the United States, just as we are proud of the work we do in more than 175 countries around the world.”
During the election campaign Trump had criticised IBM for exporting jobs.
Also on jobs Rometty said IBM was creating ‘New Collar” jobs. Saying not all roles in IBM require a four year degree qualification the letter said: “we are creating and hiring to fill “new collar” jobs – entirely new roles in areas such as cybersecurity, data science, artificial intelligence and cognitive business.”
IBM has long touted using technology to reduce government waste and Rometty said: “Eight years ago, IBM helped lead an effort to identify $1 trillion in savings the federal government could achieve through using advanced data analytics, data center consolidation, and the use of cloud technologies to improve the cybersecurity of key government systems. As part of the Technology CEO Council of which I am a member, we will prepare an updated set of recommendations for how you could use technology and fraud analytics to save the government more than $1 trillion.”
The letter signed off: “In the years ahead there will be issues on which we agree, and issues on which we do not. But as you prepare to take office as our new president, I hope the ideas I have offered in this letter represent ways that we can work together to achieve prosperity that is broadly shared in our society.”
The US tech sector has been lining up to lobby Trump as he continues his transition plan. Google and Facebook called for the maintenance of an open internet.
