NEW DELHI: Just months before assuming the Oval Office, President-elect Donald Trump has officially added SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, and PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi to his Advisory Board for Strategic and Policy Forum.

Trump had also called upon Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and Alphabet CEO Larry Page to the Trump Tower, with regard to allotting further advisory positions to these powerful executives. Previously also added to this forum are JPMorgan Chief Jamie Dimon, GM Head Mary Barra, and Disney’s Bob Iger. The billionaire-driven forum is headed by another billionaire, founder of the Blackstone Group, Stephen Schwarzman.

“America has the most innovative and vibrant companies in the world, and the pioneering CEOs joining this forum today are at the top of their fields, said the businessman President-elect himself. “My administration is going to work together with the private sector to improve the business climate and make it attractive for firms to create new jobs across the United States from Silicon Valley to the heartland” he added.

This election of such prominent executives has left many people perturbed. Musk, prior to Trump being elected President was pretty vocal in his criticism of the President-elect. Musk had told CNBC during an interview on November 4, stating, “I think a bit strongly that [Trump] is probably not the right guy” for assuming the Presidency, and that “he doesn’t seem to have the sort of character that reflects well on the United States”. Kalanick also was strictly anti-trump having joked that, “I’m going to move to China if Donald Trump wins”.

This mass entry of top executives has come in the backdrop of Trump choosing his cabinet ministers, most of whom are pretty controversial figures. Having rallied against bankers all throughout his campaign, most notably the major investment bank, Goldman Sachs, Trump has added three former Goldman employees to his cabinet.

Steven Mnuchin, the new Treasury secretary, is a former Goldman investment banker, whose primary job is to cut corporate taxation by more than half. Two other employees of Goldman Sachs, Stephen Bannon and Gary Cohn, hold important portfolios in the Trump cabinet as well. The former Breitbart Chief, Bannon is Trump’s ultra-rightwing chief strategist, while Gary Cohn, Goldman's President who is set to be the president-elect’s new chief economic adviser.

Also added to his corporate ministry is ExxonMobil CEO, Rex Tillerson, who is set to be the new Secretary of State. The new energy Secretary, Rick Perry is a known climate change skeptic much like Trump.

The election of Musk, and Kalanick might bring some benefits along with them. The Tesla CEO has been a long term advocator for protecting the climate, and moving to a renewable energy source. He has also voiced his support for levying the controversial carbon tax on companies. In fact, new Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson has also supported the idea of a national carbon tax.

This is in stark contrast to Trump’s idea of climate change, which he calls a hoax. “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S manufacturing non-competitive”, Trump wrote on Twitter in 2012.

The election of Musk might help change Trump’s mind on not abandoning the Paris Climate Agreement. Musk has also previously worked with Peter Thiel, a member of Trump’s transition team. The two co-founded PayPal back in December 1998.

Trump had rallied all throughout his presidential campaign that he would create jobs for Americans, and help bolster the American economy. It seems as though, by adding such big names of the Silicon Valley, Trump, the businessman might have finally hit the ground running.

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SHOUNAK BANERJEE