White House · Microsoft · Donald Trump · Elon Musk · U.S. · JD Vance · Fortune Technology
Trump presents national medal to Microsoft CEO after suspending its H-1B visas and alleging ‘foreign indentured servants’
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President Donald Trump celebrated tech billionaires for their contributions to America on Thursday only hours after a company run by one of them, Microsoft, was accused by his vice president of abusing the visa system to bring in more foreign workers.
Key facts
- Vance said Microsoft last year fired 6,000 U.S. workers but also obtained 6,300 H-1B visas and almost 3,000 green cards
- The president gave the National Medal of Science to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and Lisa Su, CEO of the semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices
- Trump called the group of billionaires “national treasures,” comparing them to his uncle, John Trump, an electrical engineer and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who received
- Past winners of the National Medal of Science, which was established in 1959, have mainly been academics and research scientists rather than business leaders
Summary
Before the ceremony that recognized Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Vice President JD Vance announced at a news conference that the tech company was being suspended from a program that allows companies to apply for green cards for skilled foreign workers with H-1B visas. The crackdown on Microsoft revealed the tension between the companies that power U.S. economic growth and the administration’s efforts to reduce immigration. “Our message to Microsoft is: You’re a great American company, but you’ve got to hire great American workers,” Vance told a news conference. Vance said Microsoft last year fired 6,000 U.S. workers but also obtained 6,300 H-1B visas and almost 3,000 green cards.