WEBVTT - Victoria Espinel Talks Trump Tariffs on Tech

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

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<v Speaker 2>The Trump Administration's focus on trade continues to impact tech companies.

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<v Speaker 2>Apple is seeking relief from President Trump's tariffs on goods

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<v Speaker 2>imported from China with more investments in the US. Trump

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<v Speaker 2>also signed a memorandum on Friday to counter digital services

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<v Speaker 2>taxes some countries imposts on US tech giants. All of

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<v Speaker 2>this as the US is competing to lead the way

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<v Speaker 2>in AI and quantum computing. Here to unpack the impact

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<v Speaker 2>of these developments is Victoria Espadel, CEO of the Business

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<v Speaker 2>Software Alliance. Victoria, It's pretty clear that President Trump has

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<v Speaker 2>declared himself pro innovation, pro technology, but what do you

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<v Speaker 2>make of the way he's going about it?

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<v Speaker 3>So, as you say, I think the administration has been

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<v Speaker 3>really transparent about what their goals are in terms of

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<v Speaker 3>innovation and competition, and it's interesting to see them approaching

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<v Speaker 3>it in a variety of different ways. Some are focus

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<v Speaker 3>on trying to promote US industry, some are trying to

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<v Speaker 3>are focused on trying to protect US industry. But you're

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<v Speaker 3>seeing this across trade. I think you're going to see

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<v Speaker 3>it in the AI Action Plan that the administration is

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<v Speaker 3>going to be working on soon. We are hoping that

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<v Speaker 3>quantum competitiveness will be part of what the White House

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<v Speaker 3>is focused on. So I think you're going to be

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<v Speaker 3>seeing this in a number of areas.

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<v Speaker 1>Your whole role is advancing enterprise software companies, leadership and

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<v Speaker 1>global policies. So how much are they having their voices

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<v Speaker 1>heard when we see the latest impact on Digital Services Act?

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<v Speaker 1>But then also what's happening with China and the impact

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<v Speaker 1>that has on an Apple for example.

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<v Speaker 3>So it's you know, you raise a Digital Services Act.

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<v Speaker 3>It's true that that's an act that has more of

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<v Speaker 3>a focus on social media companies, for example, rather than

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<v Speaker 3>enterprise software. There are, but there are so many impacts

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<v Speaker 3>that the atrump of administration can have I think, including

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<v Speaker 3>many in a positive way on enterprise software. Some of

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<v Speaker 3>the issues that are front of mind are not ones

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<v Speaker 3>that are going to be impacted by enterprise so for

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<v Speaker 3>exampleple speech issues. You know, there's a lot that's happening

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<v Speaker 3>that's really positive from AI enterprise and AI software that's

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<v Speaker 3>not going to be impacted by those. But on the

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<v Speaker 3>other hand, I think the administration has a real opportunity

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<v Speaker 3>to lead in terms of digital trade. I think they

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<v Speaker 3>have a real opportunity to lead in terms of AI adoption.

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<v Speaker 3>And you know, there's so much there's so much focus

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<v Speaker 3>and attention to building the large LM models, and of

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<v Speaker 3>course that's important, but what we really need to have

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<v Speaker 3>the broadest positive economic impact is AI adoption across a

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<v Speaker 3>wide range of industries. And that is something that I

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<v Speaker 3>think there's real potential for the administration to take the

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<v Speaker 3>lead on.

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<v Speaker 1>And companies have been trying to think of Microsoft and

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<v Speaker 1>really focusing in on the consumer applications with the mastaff

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<v Speaker 1>are soonly went to high for example, and proportion of

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<v Speaker 1>him Victoria. What is it then the companies that you're

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<v Speaker 1>talking with, and that companies currently are trying to navigate

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<v Speaker 1>and maybe be politicking as we see with Tim Cook,

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<v Speaker 1>how what do they really want? Is it clarity or

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<v Speaker 1>is it actually that they do want change here?

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<v Speaker 3>So let's talk about AI and what's happening in AI

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<v Speaker 3>regulation And I would say, you know, speaking for enterprise software,

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<v Speaker 3>I think there are at a broad level, there are

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<v Speaker 3>three things that we want. First, we are pro regulation.

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<v Speaker 3>We think it makes sense to have regulation. What we

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<v Speaker 3>don't want is bad regulation. And what I would characterize

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<v Speaker 3>bad regulation is regulation that's unworkable regulation that is addressing

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<v Speaker 3>the wrong issues, So I think that's important. Second, there

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<v Speaker 3>needs to be clarity. One of the hindreds is the

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<v Speaker 3>innovation we have right now is there's so much churn

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<v Speaker 3>in the system. Is regulation coming is it not? Who

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<v Speaker 3>will it apply to? Who will it want? And that

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<v Speaker 3>is an enormous drag on a company's ability to innovate

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<v Speaker 3>and plan forward. And then the third thing that we

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<v Speaker 3>need is consistency. The thing that is even worse than

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<v Speaker 3>lack of clarity is inconsistency across different laws being passed

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<v Speaker 3>by the US States, different laws being passed by other

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<v Speaker 3>countries that are in conflict for on one another. And

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<v Speaker 3>that is even more of a problem if you are

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<v Speaker 3>a small company, that is going to have even more

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<v Speaker 3>difficulty dealing with those. So no bad regulation, clarity and

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<v Speaker 3>consistency are three things that are critical if we are

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<v Speaker 3>going to continue to move forward.

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<v Speaker 2>Victoria, you mentioned the small players. A lot of the

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<v Speaker 2>headlines come from the big tech giants, But what do

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<v Speaker 2>some of the policies that you're thinking about, How would

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<v Speaker 2>that affect perhaps some of the smaller technology companies. Would

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<v Speaker 2>it only benefit the large incumbents.

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<v Speaker 1>No.

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<v Speaker 3>I think actually, in many cases the biggest positive impact

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<v Speaker 3>will be on the smaller companies, so they won't be

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<v Speaker 3>held down by, for example, unworkable or inconsistent regulation. I mean,

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<v Speaker 3>there's so much happening in the AI policy space, but

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<v Speaker 3>here are two things that I would emphasize, and I

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<v Speaker 3>think these will have an impact on all companies, including

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<v Speaker 3>and perhaps in particular small companies. One is at the

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<v Speaker 3>federal level. So in terms of what's happening here in Washington, DC,

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<v Speaker 3>a focus on promoting AI adoption is something that we're

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<v Speaker 3>expecting to see and there's been support for that in

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<v Speaker 3>the past, but we're expecting a lot more activity this

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<v Speaker 3>year coming year on AI adoption. But the second thing

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<v Speaker 3>I would say is that any company that wants to

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<v Speaker 3>understand what is happening in AI regulation right now has

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<v Speaker 3>to be looking at what is happening in the states.

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<v Speaker 3>There is the US States. There's a tremendous amount of

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<v Speaker 3>activity there. We're very focused there. You had Colorado pass

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<v Speaker 3>the first comprehensive AI law last year, but now you

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<v Speaker 3>have Texas, Connecticut, Virginia, California. They all want to be next,

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<v Speaker 3>and that the states are going to move legislation and regulation.

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<v Speaker 3>So when you talk about all companies, but in particular

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<v Speaker 3>small companies trying to deal with this the regulation that's coming,

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<v Speaker 3>and trying to deal with inconsistencies that we may see there.

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<v Speaker 3>If that comes to pass, that is going to be

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<v Speaker 3>a big drag on innovation points.

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<v Speaker 1>Victoria Espanel from the Business Software Alliance, thanks so much

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<v Speaker 1>for joining us.