Corporate CEOs push back on Trump's policies
Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick surprised the worlds of politics and business, Feb. 2, when he made it clear he would not be sharing a ride with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Kalanick abruptly quit Trump's Business Advisory Group ahead of a meeting with the president, Feb. 3. Corporate heavyweights including Ford, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Starbucks have openly criticized the new restrictions and are expected to be at that meeting to ask the president some tough questions.
"We agree with the president on a number of different policies and on this particular one, we do not," says Ford chief executive Mark Fields.
Dirk Matten says he's buoyed by the role parts of corporate America appear ready to take. He's a professor at the Schulich School of Business at York University, where he's the Hewlett-Packard Chair in Corporate Social Responsibility.
"In some ways, it is surprising. Business is about business, about caring for customers, shareholders. And suddenly we see them deeply involved in the political arena."
Matten says it's been companies like Uber at the vanguard of this corporate political activism because their businesses are most directly affected by Trump's controversial policies such as the travel restrictions.
"These outspoken companies have been quite courageous, they've been quite bold," agrees Margaret Heffernan, an entrepreneur and author of A Bigger Prize: How We Can Do Better than the Competition.
"They've moved very quickly to point out the government has to be responsible for all the people, not just the people who elected it."
But Heffernan warns the stakes are very high for corporate leaders because Trump has shown an affinity for calling out his critics, which can cause a dramatic drop in share values.
"This is on many levels a significant risk," she tells Young.
"Part of what you're seeing is a testing of the waters, which is how far is business prepared to stand up for itself despite the risk of a very irresponsible president."
Metten says businesses are becoming more vocal and involved because of what he sees as a social vacuum that Trump is creating.
"There is an interesting trade off between what the responsibility of business is and what the responsibility of government is. And we see business stepping into that more social role every time governments retreat."
In stark contrast, Globe and Mail columnist Jeffrey Jones says there has been little appetite in the Canadian corporate world to speak publicly about Trump's new policies. He says the newspaper canvassed business leaders in a number of industries - banks, energy, transportation, technology - and got little to no response.
"It was downright crickets," Jones tells Young.
"[Globe and Mail journalists got] either 'No comment,' or no response at all. So there was a lot of hiding on this issue."
Jones says the Canadian energy sector is in a particularly difficult situation. The industry is delighted with Trump's decision to support the development of the Keystone XL pipeline, so it makes it difficult for oil and gas executives to then criticize Trump on his immigration policies.
Listen to the full segment at the top of this web post.
This segment was produced by The Current's Ines Colabrese and Samira Mohyeddin.