FILE - President Joe Biden speaks on April 12, 2024, in Washington. Top Biden administration officials have stepped up their outreach to CEOs and other corporate leaders to ask about what they need. The effort encroaches on the business community terrain that former President Donald Trump considers to be his home turf.
Biden was invited to appear as well, but he will be in Italy for a Group of Seven summit of world leaders. White House chief of staffBiden has long sought to balance the interests of businesses and workers, tempering his criticism of companies by noting that as a former senator from Delaware he comes from the “corporate capital of the world.”
American business leaders, according to the Biden team, are looking for ways to sustain growth: There are not enough skilled workers to fill available jobs. Government permitting needs to be streamlined. And they generally agree with the administration’s push to renew a corporate tax break for research and development expenses.
Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said he walked away from the conversations more fully aware of how issues overlapped. The administration's renewable energy policies were essential to build out the data centers used for artificial intelligence, for example.