CEOs Rush to Avoid Trump’s Wrath With Stops at the Gilded Tower
- Companies are visiting with an eye toward heading off trouble
- “Arnault meeting Trump was a masterpiece of diplomacy”
Marillyn Hewson, chief executive officer of Lockheed Martin, arrives at Trump Tower, Jan. 13, in New York City.
Photographer: Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesEmerging from the gilded doors of an elevator in Trump Tower on Jan. 13, Lockheed Martin Chief Executive Officer Marillyn Hewson said she’d just promised President-elect Donald Trump to hire 1,800 workers in Texas. Four days earlier, Jack Ma of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba stood in the marble-clad lobby to announce an expansion of his company’s U.S. business. That same day, French luxury mogul Bernard Arnault was there to tell Trump that his LVMH group might step up U.S. manufacturing.
Why the CEO parade? It’s clear that Trump’s threats and tweets are having some effect on global corporations. Lockheed, for one, looks ready to do whatever the new President asks -- but that’s no surprise, since the Pentagon is its biggest customer. Besides adding jobs in Texas, Hewson promised to lower costs “significantly” for Lockheed’s F-35 fighter jet program, which Trump has blasted for cost overruns.