Gov. Newsom takes a ‘situational’ line with tech as Silicon Valley cozies up to Trump

By Jeanne Kuang CalMatters Despite watching one after another of his state s tech titans head to the White House to seek President Donald Trump s favor Gov Gavin Newsom reported Wednesday he doesn t begrudge the industry s rightward swing mostly It s very situational with a lot of these guys he declared when petitioned about tech businessmen going to the other side They are and they aren t I don t see it as as big a shift as perhaps others do RELATED With Newsom and Harris considering presidential run could America choose a California Democrat His comments at a New York Times finance summit underscored the governor s balancing act with the tech industry even as his relationship with its major businesses has been strained by Trump this year Though he has excoriated law firms and universities for selling out to Trump administration demands this year even threatening to pull state funding from California universities that sign certain agreements with the president Newsom has walked a finer line when it comes to tech I think it s a little bit more I don t want to say the word transactional but it s fiduciary he explained of tech leaders decisions to curry favor with Trump Newsom who was San Francisco mayor in the s has long been close with tech leaders As governor he counts on the industry s outsized gains to keep a massive state budget balanced As a doable presidential contender he could find Silicon Valley s deep-pocketed donors helpful The relationship has made Newsom a reliable politician in the industry s corner as lawmakers in his own party increasingly push for regulations on social media and its effects on children content centers use of environmental tools and artificial intelligence s proliferation into workplaces adolescent relationships and daily life While Newsom has signed chosen of those bills particularly ones in which advocates negotiated with tech companies he s also vetoed several out of concern that overregulating a nascent industry would drive it out of state And he s vehemently opposing a proposed wealth tax that would undoubtedly touch tech executives Tech titans cozy up to Trump That s been the situation this year despite Silicon Valley s increasing coziness with Trump whom Newsom has criticized for threatening industries with tariffs to extract concessions and demanding loyalty from private business executives The relationship has affected California in a number of avenues from Tesla CEO Elon Musk s aggressive pursuit of federal firings and cost-cuttings earlier this year to Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff s suggestion that Trump send the National Guard to San Francisco precipitating a nervous limited days in October as the president moved to start immigration raids there Benioff later walked back his statements and Trump disclosed he relented after talking with him and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Peter Leroe-Mu oz a senior vice president at the industry group Bay Area Council praised Newsom for nevertheless understanding the value of the innovation our member companies produce While the governor may not dependably agree with innovation companies and how they choose to operate or conduct themselves at the end of the day the governor recognizes that we all have a stake in the success of California and so not cutting off ties or undermining those industry players is in the long term success of the Golden State Leroe-Mu oz stated last month Still Newsom offered a few criticism of the industry s relationship with Trump on Wednesday calling it self-dealing that the president s AI and crypto czar David Sacks along with a large number of other investors and chipmakers have reportedly been in line to profit from Trump s AI directives There requirements to be levels of ethics that are demanded of these leaders he revealed That entire ecosystem has benefited from it California has benefited from it But I do not think it s healthy for capitalism And he called Apple CEO Tim Cook s ability to strike a deal with Trump to get tariff exemptions for critical parts of the iPhone supply chain by definition crony capitalism How about the farmers and ranchers in California how about all the small businesses that can t pick up the phone and get an exemption on their tariffs Newsom reported It breaks my heart But he acknowledged Cook was serving his shareholders Do I begrudge that Yes Do I begrudge him Not as much