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During President Trump’s first 100 days, large law firms and Ivy League schools to institutions of major drug manufacturers and government contractors quickly acquiesced to a range of government demands. Unfortunately, Trump’s anger has not stopped our borders, and his demands and actions increasingly quarantine the United States from the rest of the world.
The private sector should not be short-sighted about this. American companies still have the responsibility and opportunity to support American ideals that support global economic growth and democracy. The winds of our politics may change, but the relationships and trusts of our allies may not be so fickle. Today’s damage can take decades to rebuild.
Happily, some companies still understand this.
Founded 50 years ago by high school friends Bill Gates and Paul Allen, few Americans are like Microsoft. Most notably, it has been taking bold steps to challenge Trump. Despite the company’s many shortcomings – from ongoing cybersecurity issues to restricted licensing practices, it has taken action against the Trump administration in many ways.
Microsoft’s pro-European stance took off last month when its President Brad Smith announced a new commitment to digitalization in Europe to protect European data from the long-term impact of the Trump administration, and even pledged to file a lawsuit against Trump’s Justice Department in the event of “protecting the rights of our customers and other stakeholders.” As relations between the United States and Europe become increasingly tense, Microsoft’s latest move shows that U.S. companies can play an important role in upholding decades of relationships based on Western democracy. For this, it is worthy of praise.
Unlike other major tech companies, Microsoft resists Trump’s vision for the United States. It began in the first few days of the second Trump term, with Microsoft leaders choosing to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos instead of Trump’s inauguration. Smith and Satya Nadella may have made a mandatory pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago just like their peers, meeting with Trump and Vance before the inauguration, but when asked about their absence, Smith said the company had “better places.”
While the company continues to support increased access to “American AI” and is optimistic about the AI opportunities after Trump returns to office, Microsoft has set a delicate balance between supporting the administration and not recognizing American values in certain areas. “We support governments in many areas,” Smith said in an interview in March, but he “may be more worried about the business climate in Washington right now than at any time in the past 30 years.”
Considering how much Microsoft has lost, this is admirable. The company owns 85% of the U.S. public sector productivity software market and has billions of dollars in federal contracts. It is also reportedly a microscope for an extensive FTC antitrust investigation, reviewing its software licensing practices and cloud computing business. Other companies would have turned to Europe to favor with Trump’s curry curry in an attempt to eliminate the risk, but Microsoft did not.
It should be clear that Microsoft is not alone. Other well-known American institutions also began to master the government. Harvard University, for example, rejected Trump’s request and continued to challenge the administration’s recent actions, including filing lawsuits to stop freezing billions of dollars in government funds. Top law firms Jenner and Block and Wilmerhale oppose Trump, while some contemporaries have provided unpaid services to the government, including one that Microsoft abandoned before hiring Jenner and Block.
Despite the recent “diversity and inclusion efforts are more important than ever” from the White House, including Costco, Apple and Cisco, and Microsoft, several major companies are also maintaining their DEI commitments and plans in recent times.
Microsoft did this by raising the price of Xbox consoles, controllers and certain games after Trump threatened to take action against the company when he threatened to raise prices on the company in response to his tariffs. Proctor and Gamble raised prices by 1% in the latest quarter and announced plans to sell new products at a higher price.
When Trump was re-elected, many major U.S. businesses were excited about the potential economic opportunities of the transparent Quid-Pro-Quo Administration. While some companies benefit, others (such as Meta and Amazon) do not. However, the benefits at hand are higher than the profit. Now is the time for us to understand which institutions are willing to abide by the principles defined since their inception and the relationships that have defined the past century. Those who deserve our praise, not institutions that bend knees.
Paul Rosenzweig served as Deputy Deputy Secretary of Policy of the Department of Homeland Security. He is a professor lecturer at George Washington University School of Law and a senior fellow in the Technology, Law and Security Program at the American University of Washington Law School. He advises technology companies on cyber and national security issues, including companies that compete with Microsoft.