'Damaging Ties': LinkedIn Co-Founder On Trump's Approach To Foreign Affairs

The Donald Trump administration's current approach to international relations is damaging its relationship with allies, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman has said. On his 'Possible' podcast, he said the US government was pushing people away instead of building relationships, which could negatively impact the American industry.

Referring to the 'How to Win Friends and Influence People' book, which emphasises building strong relationships through effective communication, Mr Hoffman said, "One of the problems with the current general administration approach of 'How to Lose Friends and Alienate People'-the opposite of Dale Carnegie-is that it will create substantial problems for all American industry, including the tech industry."

He said, "I mean, obviously most of the actions, and most of the gestures, tend to be when you come over to Europe and say, it's an America, not just America first, it's an America-only kind of position, that obviously breaks alliances."

When the US takes a self-centred approach, other countries may start looking for new allies, the 57-year-old said. He said that technologists now preferred BYD, a Chinese electric vehicle brand, over Tesla.

Mr Hoffman said, "And gets people to think about like, 'Well, who else should I potentially ally with?' And so having all these discussions with people about, like, OK, what kind of technologists here say, 'Well, I'd rather buy a BYD car than a Tesla. One is kind of saying, 'Hey, I'm just trying to be a stable partner,' and the other one's saying, 'You're my enemy.'"

Mr Hoffman, a vocal supporter of Kamala Harris during her presidential run, said that he wanted to reassure investors that American companies were still strong and the nation a trustworthy partner.

He said, "Part of what I'm trying to do here is to persuade folks that the US actually, in fact, can be a continuing stable partner, despite the randomness of tariffs and things."

"The business of America being business is still actually, in fact, something that we hold-a bunch of us Americans-hold dear and try to operate and try to say, 'Hey, there's still bridges we can build here.'"

In December, there were reports that Mr Hoffman was considering leaving the United States after Trump's victory in the November 5 presidential election.

After Ms Harris' defeat, Mr Hoffman was worried about retribution from Trump, who promised to take on his political opponents, including several major Democratic donors.

He reportedly told friends he was considering relocating overseas, The New York Times reported.