The Wall Street Journal’s conservative editorial board on Thursday labeled President Donald Trump’s latest anti-immigration move a “mistake” and warned it could actually damage the U.S. economy.
Read the full editorial at The Wall Street Journal.
Trump has ordered that companies pay $100,000 annually for each skilled worker they hire on an H-1B visa.
The newspaper’s board, in just its latest criticism of the president, called the measure a “de facto tax” clearly designed to price foreign talent out of the U.S. job market, noting that many firms turn to H-1B workers because “there aren’t enough Americans graduating with the right technical skills.”
“If companies aren’t allowed to hire foreign workers in the U.S. because they are too expensive, they’ll go abroad,” it warned. “There will be fewer startups and less innovation. This will not help the U.S. in the AI race with China.”
Economists have issued the same caution.