Business gurus debate Elon Musk’s visa conflict with Trump’s MAGA base

• Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy clash with Donald Trump’s base over the H-1B visa program.
• The tech elite sees foreign talent as vital, while “America First” supporters want less immigration.
• Here’s what Paul Krugman, Robert Reich and other economists say about the debate.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have clashed with Donald Trump’s MAGA base on the issue of legal immigration, particularly the H-1B visa program for skilled workers.

The pair argued on X that the U.S. needs to import foreign talent to remain globally competitive. In a now-deleted post, Musk appeared to say that there weren’t enough smart Americans to fill the most demanding tech jobs. In a separate post, Ramaswamy blamed the deficit on a culture in the U.S. that “worships mediocrity over excellence.”

In contrast, many of Trump’s supporters believe that employers import cheap labor, depressing wages and stealing jobs from locals. Under the slogan “America First,” they want to radically reduce legal immigration so that more Americans can get well-paying jobs in fields such as technology and engineering.

Business gurus are divided on this issue. Here is a summary of their views.

Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize winner and economics professor at the CUNY Graduate Center

“For the most part, immigrants are supplements, not replacements, for native-born workers,” Krugman said in a Substack post.

“So the original MAGA is wrong when it claims that immigration generally impoverishes ‘real Americans.’ But the tech bro MAGA is wrong and insulting when he says we need foreign workers because Americans are stupid or lazy. In addition, the availability of less expensive foreign tech workers actually reduces the incentive for tech companies to train local workers and undermines the political incentive to improve our education system.

“I would still argue that something like H-1B makes America richer and stronger, especially given the spillover effects that a successful tech sector brings. But Muskaswamy and his friends are not helping their case by insulting the culture and intelligence of Americans.”

Robert Reich, a former U.S. Secretary of Labor and member of President Bill Clinton’s National Economic Council

“Allowing many more skilled workers into the United States reduces any incentives for American companies to invest in the American workforce,” Reich said on Substack.

He added: “Allowing many more skilled workers into the United States also reduces the bargaining power of the skilled workers already in America – thereby reducing any incentive placed on other Americans to acquire the skills for such jobs.”

“And opening America to skilled workers also reduces the incentive for foreign nations to train and develop their own skilled workers. Why should they do that when their own skilled workers can easily emigrate to America?”

“The primary beneficiaries of the country opening up to foreign talent in the U.S. are CEOs and venture capitalists like Musk and (David Sacks), whose profits and wealth would be even greater if they could attract cheaper talent from abroad.”

Florian Ederer, professor of markets, public policy and law at Boston University

“How dare the US not bend its knees and attract the best and brightest talent from around the world!” Ederer responded to an X post, expressing skepticism about expanding the H-1B visa program and the abolition of caps on green cards by country.

Responding to a comment arguing that more immigration could increase competition for jobs, Ederer said: “I am a former H1B and now a US citizen. I am an economics professor, a profession with a particularly high proportion of foreign workers. “That is literally what happens in my job.”

Jeff Eisenach, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute

“Legal immigration has contributed to both American prosperity and our culture,” Eisenach said on X. “For example, Latino families are culturally conservative, raising their children, starting new businesses — and making us ALL richer.”

“The H1B program strengthens America’s workforce by attracting — and generally retaining — very talented people,” he added in another post. “And these are not people competing for middle-class jobs.”

In a third post, Eisenach argued that misusing the H-1B program to hire non-technical workers is “obviously a problem that needs to be addressed.”