America is great because of its willingness to accept talented immigrants.

That’s what Nandan Nilekani, the billionaire co-founder of Infosys Technologies, would tell President Trump if he had the opportunity.

“If you really want to keep the U.S. … globally competitive, you should be open to overseas talent,” Nilekani said on the sidelines of CNN’s Asia Business Forum in Bangalore.

Infosys (INFY) is India’s second-largest outsourcing firm, and a major recipient of U.S. H-1B visas. The documents allow the tech firm to employ a huge number of Indians in U.S. jobs.

The Trump administration is now considering significant changes to the visa program. Press Secretary Sean Spicer said in January that Trump will continue to talk about reforming the H-1B program, among others, as part of a larger push for immigration reform.

Curbs on the visas could hit Indian workers hardest.

India is the top source of high-skilled labor for the U.S. tech industry. According to U.S. government data, 70% of the hugely popular H-1B visas go to Indians.

Shares in several Indian tech companies — including Infosys — plunged spectacularly two weeks ago amid reports of an impending work visa crackdown.

Related: Tech industry braces for Trump’s visa reform

Nilekani said it would be a mistake for the administration to follow through.

“Indian companies have done a great deal to help U.S. companies become more competitive, and I think that should continue,” Nilekani said. “If you look at the Silicon Valley … most of the companies have an immigrant founder.”

India’s contribution to the industry — especially at top levels — has been outsized. The current CEOs of Google (GOOG) and Microsoft (MSFT), for example, were both born in India.

Related: India freaks out over U.S. plans to change high-skilled visas

But Nilekani, who is also the architect of India’s ambitious biometric ID program, suggested that India would ultimately benefit from any new restrictions put in place under Trump’s “America First” plan. If talented engineers can’t go to the U.S., they will stay in India.

“This issue of visas has always come up in the U.S. every few years, especially during election season,” he said. “It’s actually accelerated the development work [in India], because … people are investing more to do the work here.”

Nilekani cited his own projects for the Indian government as an example.

The Bangalore-born entrepreneur left Infosys in 2009 to run India’s massive social security program, which is known as Aadhaar. As a result of the initiative, the vast majority of India’s 1.3 billion citizens now have a biometric ID number that allows them to receive government services, execute bank transactions and even make biometric payments.

“It was built by extremely talented and committed Indians,” Nilekani said. “Many of them had global experience, but they brought that talent and experience to solve India’s problems.”

Nilekani said the country’s massive youth population is increasingly choosing to stay home and pitch in.

“It’s India first,” he said.

CNNMoney (Bangalore, India) First published February 13, 2017: 2:19 PM ET

Beth Ford’s first job paid $2 an hour. Early in the morning, she climbed on the school bus to go detassel corn, joining other kids in Sioux City, Iowa, who did it as a summer job.

“Back then, two dollars an hour, that was real money,” Ford tells CNN’s Poppy Harlow in the latest episode of Boss Files.

Now, as the first female CEO of Land O’Lakes — and the first openly gay female CEO in the Fortune 500 list of largest US companies — Ford remembers a conversation with her mother years ago that taught her that “while we may not have everything, we have enough, and given what we have, much was expected of us.”

“She said, ‘Do you understand what is expected of you? Do you understand how much you have? Don’t disappoint,’ and I was like, ‘I’ve gotta work hard to not disappoint,’” Ford says.

Ford has a vision for Land O’Lakes. She wants to transform people’s perceptions of the butter and cream company and refocus attention on the efforts it’s making in the ag-tech space.

“My vision is to continue to invest in technology,” she says. “You have to have agility. E-commerce and e-business and technology is disrupting all industries, including agriculture, and there’s an opportunity when you have an insight-driven, technology-focused company, as I believe Land O’ Lakes is.”

The future of Land O’Lakes

In July, the United States slapped tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese imports, a move China called the beginning of “the biggest trade war in economic history.” In response, China imposed tariffs on billions of dollars worth of US exports, including cotton, dairy and soybeans.

“Grain farmers, growers, and producers across the US are all affected by the uncertainty churning around trade negotiations and retaliatory tariffs,” Ford says. “Export market access is critical to these farmers and the agriculture industry and we’re seeing a slowdown due to uncertainty in the trade environment.”

Ford says she’s spoken with soybean farmers and others concerned with the tariff politics.

“What I would tell you is that our farmer members are supportive in understanding that the administration is trying to do something on intellectual property theft,” she says. “They want to make sure that they have appropriate trade agreements, and I think that they’re supportive.”

More than anything else, she says, these farmers need resolution and clarity — quickly.

“Time is critical,” she says. “So then what’s the most important thing the administration can do? They can move with speed and resolve these trade issues and resolve those tariff issues.”

When the announcement about Ford’s promotion to CEO went out, the press release celebrated her achievements, but it made no special mention of an important “first” in Fortune 500 history.

With Ford’s promotion, she became the first openly gay female CEO to lead a Fortune 500 company.

In the months since, she’s heard from people about how much that “first” has meant to them.

“People have come up to me and said, ‘Thank you,’” she says. “And it’s not just the LGBTQ community, it is just people in their normal life saying, ‘Thank you for being your authentic self and encouraging others to do that.’”

Ford says she’s never faced discrimination in her career, but she’s definitely considered its potential impact on herself and her family.

“I had made deliberate decisions for some places where I felt as though it may not be as friendly,” she says. “I said, ‘The job looks great. You’re a wonderful leader. I can’t be here because I don’t think this will be great. My spouse is a woman, and I have a daughter.”

Thinking about the dwindling percentage of female CEOs in the Fortune 500, she says progress can’t be truly made until the overall number of women leaders increases — something that she sees as “a shared responsibility” for management teams and their talent development programs.

On that path to the C-suite, she calls back to an important lesson, yet again from her mother: “Beth, if you want something, ask for it.”

“You expect you’re going to be recognized because you’ve done the hard work, and that isn’t actually how it always happens,” Ford says.

You may never have to plug in your iPhone again.

Apple has joined an industry group devoted to wireless charging, strengthening existing rumors that the next iPhone will charge without a cord. The Wireless Power Consortium, which is made up of some 200 organizations that promote a single wireless charging standard, confirmed to CNNTech that Apple joined the group last week.

IPhone rumors swirl months before each new version is announced, and hype around the so-called ‘iPhone 8″ is particularly high: Apple (AAPL) is expected to unveil a major redesign of the this fall to mark the 10-year anniversary of the smartphone.

The company has already shown interest in doing away with cumbersome cords. The Apple Watch charges wirelessly, provided consumers spend $79 on a magnetic charging dock. And the latest MacBook now comes with only one USB port.

Related: Apple stock nears a record high

Apple would also create another iPhone revenue stream by selling a wireless charging station separately. The feature would simplify charging for smartphone owners. Rather than plugging in one’s phone, a user would only need to place it on the charging dock.

Apple said in a statement Monday it was joining the Wireless Power Consortium to contribute its ideas as wireless charging standards are developed.

As for the speculated possible features of the next iPhone, other rumors include an edge-to-edge display, a glass body and the removal of the home button.

CNNMoney (Washington) First published February 13, 2017: 2:42 PM ET

New York
CNN Business
 — 

Kevin Hassett, one of President Donald Trump’s top economic advisers, suggested that Goldman Sachs may be slanting its economic research to help Democrats ahead of the midterm elections.

The Goldman Sachs economics team “almost at times looks like the Democratic opposition,” Hassett told CNN’s Poppy Harlow on Tuesday.

The comment came after Harlow asked Hassett about a Goldman Sachs research report warning that a 25% US tariff on all imports from China could wipe out corporate profit growth in 2019.

Hassett said he hadn’t read the research, but went on to criticize Goldman’s track record. Hassett claimed its analysis of last year’s tax cuts was “really, really wrong and timed in a partisan way.” He said Goldman’s analysis predicted the tax cuts would be “really harmful” to the economy or have little impact before jacking up its forecast after they passed.

“So maybe they’re just trying to make a partisan point before the elections,” said Hassett, chairman of Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers.

Keep in mind that Goldman Sachs (GS), like other investment banks, charges clients to access their economic and market insights. Investors rely on that research to be nonpartisan.

Goldman Sachs declined to comment about the criticism.

It marks another chapter in Team Trump’s love-hate relationship with Goldman Sachs, the most powerful firm on Wall Street.

Trump blasted Goldman Sachs during the 2016 presidential campaign. He claimed Goldman Sachs had “total, total control” over his rivals Hillary Clinton and Ted Cruz.

Trump’s closing campaign ad flashed an image of Lloyd Blankfein, then the CEO of Goldman Sachs, as the candidate’s narration condemned the “global power structure” for robbing America’s working class.

After the election, Trump reversed course.

He named former Goldman Sachs partner Steve Mnuchin to the powerful role of Treasury secretary. Trump hired Gary Cohn, a registered Democrat who was then president of Goldman Sachs, to be the face of his economic team. (Cohn left earlier this year because of a disagreement over trade.)

In the 2016 race, Clinton received $388,426 from individuals at Goldman Sachs, more than any other candidate, according to OpenSecrets. Trump received $5,607, according to OpenSecrets. Then again, Goldman Sachs employees contributed more to Republicans than Democrats overall in 2016 federal races.

Blankfein backed Clinton in the election.

However, after the election, Blankfein gave Trump credit for the soaring American economy.

“If the president didn’t win, and Hillary Clinton won … I bet you the economy is higher today than it otherwise would be,” Blankfein told CNN in February.

Veterans of Goldman Sachs have gone on to work in Republican and Democratic administrations. Robert Rubin, the former co-chairman of Goldman Sachs, served as Treasury secretary under former President Bill Clinton.

Hank Paulson had been the chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs before leading the Treasury Department under former President George W. Bush during the 2008 financial crisis.