What we're watching on tech in Trump's first days

• As we've written before, Trump often flip-flops and changes his mind depending on whom he's last spoken to, bringing uncertainty to the tech policy space for the next four years.
• Right now, Musk has his ear, guiding him on personnel picks and slashing regulations and funding.

Here are the big things we're watching for in Trump's first days in office.

1. AI policy changes: Trump is expected to quickly undo much of the Biden White House's work on AI.

• Biden's AI executive order is over a year old, and many of the instructions and reporting requirements are well underway. But Trump will move to roll these back and institute his own approach to AI.
• Startups are pushing a "little tech" agenda and making inroads with the incoming administration, countering what they say was an EO that was too heavily influenced by tech giants.
• Trump has named tech investor David Sacks, who worked at PayPal along with Musk, as his AI czar. This role doesn't require Senate confirmation, so he can quickly get started.

2. What his team says: Senate committees will be busy scheduling hearings for Trump's announced tech and science picks in the next few weeks.

• We'll be tracking these key confirmation hearings once they're on the books: Howard Lutnick, Trump's Commerce pick; Gail Slater, his choice for DOJ's antitrust division; and Michael Kratsios, for OSTP director.
• We're also waiting for Mark Meador, his nominee for the open FTC commissioner slot, Olivia Trusty for FCC, and Darío Gil, who he just named to be under secretary for science and innovation at the Energy Department, to get Senate confirmation hearing dates.
• Then there's Vice President JD Vance — a former venture capitalist with ties to Peter Thiel and AI czar Sacks — who comes to the White House with a populist approach and skepticism of Big Tech that could leave companies rattled.

3. Industrial policy and trade moves: Trump is vowing to rewrite trade rules and impose tariffs.

• The EU may be caught in the crosshairs as tech CEOs look to push back on the billions of dollars' worth of fines they've faced there.

• In a nod to Trump's proclivity for using tariffs as retaliation, Mark Zuckerberg in a recent Joe Rogan interview said he's optimistic Trump will defend U.S. tech companies.
• We'll also be eyeing any early moves on export controls, and particularly what his administration decides to do about the new sweeping export controls on AI chips.

Flashback: Trump panned the CHIPS and Science Act as "so bad" during the campaign, and instead proposed imposing high tariffs to make chip manufacturers build factories in the U.S.

• We'll be tracking what that could translate to practically.

4. TikTok response: The ban took effect Sunday after the Supreme Court declined to block the law. It's Trump's problem now.

• The president has said he'll save the app, but his options rest on shaky legal ground.
• Trump posted that he would issue an executive order on Monday "to extend the period of time before the law's prohibitions take effect."

5. The Elon impact: It's Musk's Washington, for now.

• We'll be watching to see how influential he is on the tech and high-skilled immigration question, as well as the first moves from his so-called DOGE advisory commission that's aimed at slashing government.