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The
daughter of Republican President Donald Trump and a
businesswoman, Trump spoke at the annual CES tech conference in
Las Vegas in the face of backlash from some industry officials,
including women, who challenged her tech qualifications.
She said a White House council that she co-leads will launch a
nationwide year-long advertising campaign to encourage all
pathways to jobs, including apprenticeships, and not just a
college degree.
"We need to raise awareness about many options that exist," she
told the audience. Trump said the White House will release a
national workforce strategy in the coming months. She said over
400 companies have committed to offering over 14 million
training opportunities.
The council includes the chief executives from Apple Inc,
Walmart Inc, IBM Corp and other major companies.
Conference organizers defended Trump's participation, saying she
leads White House efforts on job creation and economic growth
through workforce development, skills training and
entrepreneurship.
Consumer Technology Association CEO Gary Shapiro, who moderated
the discussion with Trump, praised her remarks. "On behalf of
the industry, we want to work with you. We want to create jobs,"
Shapiro said.
Trump talked about efforts to boost paid family leave, finding
people to fill 500,000 manufacturing job openings and doing more
to recruit and retain immigrants that she dubbed "the greatest
talent in the world."
"If we can't agree come together on this, we can't come together
on anything," Trump told Shapiro.
Some in the Women Who Tech group on Facebook voiced displeasure
with the invitation to Trump.
Investor Elisabeth Fullerton wrote: "This is an insult to women
in technology. We did hard times in university, engineering,
math, and applied sciences. This is what extreme privilege and
entitlement get you. It's not what you know it's who you know I
guess."
Tech analyst Carolina Milanesi wrote in an opinion piece in
Forbes: "The reason for my upset is rooted in the fact that
there are many more women who are in tech and are entrepreneurs
who could run circles around Trump on how technology will impact
the future of work."
(Reporting by David Shepardson in Las Vegas and Nandita Bose in
Washington; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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