Asian tech titans take a page from Trump's book

US President Trump offered a key piece of advice on getting what you want: Promise big

In his book on deal making, President Trump offered a key piece of advice on getting what you want: Promise big.

“I play to people’s fantasies,” he said in 1987’s “The Art of the Deal. People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular. I call it truthful hyperbole. It’s an innocent form of exaggeration — and a very effective form of promotion.”

Some of Asia’s biggest deal makers already understand that principle — and are making big promises accordingly.

In recent months, Alibaba’s founder, Jack Ma; the Japanese tech investor Masayoshi Son; and the head of Foxconn, Terry Gou, have made big, public plans to invest in America. Together, the deals proposed would help to create more than a million new American jobs and tens of billions of dollars in new investments.

Their promises have set off a host of other offerings from Asia in recent weeks — even if those offerings are not entirely new or solid. Toyota Motor of Japan promised last month to spend $10 billion in the United States over the next five years, which would essentially match its previous spending levels. News reports that Samsung of South Korea may also build an American plant won praise from Trump on Twitter. Samsung said it continued “to evaluate new investment needs in the US that can help us best serve our customers.”

In contrast, American firms have made largely symbolic or modest promises to keep a small number of jobs in the United States, while European companies have been mostly silent. Only Intel seems to have borrowed a page from the Asian tycoon playbook, as its Chief Executive, Brian Krzanich, appeared with Trump to announce a $7 billion Arizona plant that was conceived in 2011 and then delayed. The promises from the big Asian business leaders will be tough to keep, experts say. But they show that Asia’s tech titans see a familiar figure in Trump.

American leaders have largely shied from interfering in individual business decisions, instead relying on competitiveness to keep American companies ahead in a global market. But Trump’s focus on job protection, tariffs and the dictating of terms to business leaders is closer to the more mercantilist outlook that Ma, Son and Gou see to varying degrees in China, Japan, Taiwan and other places in Asia.

“They see where this guy Trump is coming from, and, at a visceral level, identify with him,” said Alberto Moel, an analyst at Sanford C Bernstein.

“It plays directly into their style,” he said. “These guys are political animals. They live in Asia, where things are different. There’s more autocracy and more connected transactions. In the US, people still expect things to be fair.”

The Asian executives come from a region Trump accuses of using unfair trade practices and stealing American jobs — and all three have a lot to lose. It is not clear whether their lofty promises will lead to better treatment from the Trump administration. Alibaba, which has shares that trade in the United States, has been under fire there for the fakes that proliferate on its Chinese sales platforms. It also has an eye toward expanding into places like Hollywood. Son’s SoftBank owns Sprint, the American telecom company, and has long desired to expand.

Foxconn — a Taiwan-based company with many factories in China — assembles iPhones and other gadgets for Apple, which Trump has said should make its products in America. Foxconn also has plants in Mexico that benefit under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

A SoftBank spokesman said, “Son was greatly encouraged by the economic agenda of the new administration, and he intends to invest significant resources in the US in the years ahead.” A Foxconn spokeswoman said that the company was evaluating an investment in America and that it expected a new American project would create “many direct and indirect job opportunities.” An Alibaba spokeswoman declined to comment.

Of course, the United States has a long history of supporting its homegrown industries. Still, East Asian governments often intervene more directly in business, and many of Trump’s proposals suggest he wants to adopt similar strategies.

In China, government officials give public and financial support to building up industries to make the country less dependent on exports. In Japan, the government is supporting a new effort to build an aerospace industry. In South Korea, the government has lavished subsidies and tax breaks on its largest exporters, like Hyundai and Samsung.

The American Dream

* Toyota Motor of Japan promised last month to spend $10 billion in the US over the next five years

* US leaders have largely shied from interfering in individual business decisions, instead relying on competitiveness to keep American companies ahead in a global market

* Alibaba, which has shares that trade in the US, has been under fire there for the fakes that proliferate on its Chinese sales platforms

* In South Korea, the government has lavished subsidies and tax breaks on its largest exporters, like Hyundai and Samsung



©2017 The New York Times News Service