- Ivanka Trump, daughter and advisor to the US President Donald Trump, spoke in front of a tech-heavy crowd at CES 2020 in Las Vegas.
- Surprisingly, nobody booed! The audience was very classy and respectful when she entered and exited the stage.
- Here are the highlights from her speech.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
LAS VEGAS - Ivanka Trump, daughter and advisor to US President Donald Trump, spoke in front of a tech-heavy crowd at CES 2020 in Las Vegas on Tuesday afternoon.
Given how polarizing her father is as POTUS, one might expect a mixed reaction to his daughter speaking in front of a tech-heavy crowd. But nobody booed!
I sat in the very front row and everyone clapped and showed respect for Ivanka Trump. There were no real negative crowd reactions throughout the 40-minute conversation between Trump and Consumer Electronics Association President Gary Shapiro.
Here are some of the highlights from Tuesday's speech.
On growth, and what she does every day: Trump said she's "predominately focused on pro-growth policies" like "enabling environment for companies to invest in US companies."
She said she cares greatly about "policies build upon that foundational environment, tax cuts, and de-regulations that provide pathways for Americans to pave great careers in this booming economy." She said "there's no better time to be working in America than today" thanks to "record low unemployment."
On helping the incarcerated get back on their feet: Trump said the administration has teamed up with local prisons to create programs in partnership with NGOs "to help people soon to be released to learn skills." She gave the example of how women in a maximum-security prison learned how to code without even experiencing the internet. "It's a very exciting time to be in the workforce," she said.
On what she calls "the blue-collar boom": "Wages are rising the fastest in the bottom quintile," Trump said. "Tech is helping fuel productivity, but we're here to talk about how jobs are evolving and changing - and to do the same job today, in many industries outside what's considered a traditional technology industry, there's a technical application and literacy that's required." She went into greater detail about how it's important to train people to use the "equipment of tomorrow," and how people often have to learn and re-learn skills throughout their lifetimes as jobs and industries change. She also talked about how apprenticeships are lacking in the US, compared to other countries.
On innovation: Trump talked about how innovation is a "net job producer," and "will allow for more inclusive growth" in the long run. "Disabled americans will be able to use robotic arms to do tasks they wouldn't otherwise be able to do," she said. "With that said, it's our responsibility as we think about this country and the health of all americans to be anticipating where there will be disruption, long-term or short-term, and come up with a plan to help transition those people."
On alternate forms of education: "One of the challenges we have in this country is we have a belief in society in there's one path, and that's college. While that's a great path for many Americans, most Americans don't take that path and it's not the right path for all Americans. So we want to celebrate the other pathways that exist."
Trump talked about how not all jobs require a bachelor's degree, and the importance of defining work based on skills rather than credentials, which "requires a major shift in our thinking."
"If you're a mid- to late-career worker who needs to learn a new skill to maintain relevance in this economy, guess what, you're not going back to college," She said. "We need to open the aperture and raise awareness around the many options that exist."
On immigration: Shapiro noted that "both our mothers are immigrants and they disproportionately create companies and jobs." In response, Trump said that immigrants are very important to America's story but "our immigration system is totally flawed."
"If you compare our system to Canada's … I think there would be bipartisan agreement that it needs to be overhauled," she said. "It can't displace the investment that needs to be made and the core skills of marginalized Americans. We need to do both: We need to recruit and retain the greatest talent tin the world, but we need to invest in American workers as reach over to the sidelines and put them into the workforce. And we can't import that."
