Alibaba pushes ahead in US with AI agent despite tariff headwinds | Trump hosts tech CEOs at the new White House Rose Garden | Seek accuses Employment Hero of misusing data to lure new customers

Alibaba pushes ahead in US with AI agent despite tariff headwinds | Trump hosts tech CEOs at the new White House Rose Garden | Seek accuses Employment Hero of misusing data to lure new customers

Summary

Three concise tech-policy stories from the Daily Cyber & Tech Digest: Alibaba.com is stepping up engagement with US buyers at its CoCreate event in Las Vegas, promoting cross-border trade and AI capabilities even as the Trump administration threatens higher tariffs and onshoring policies.

Separately, President Trump hosted more than two dozen tech and business leaders in the renovated White House Rose Garden — a high-profile outreach to industry figures including the heads of Meta, Apple and Microsoft at a moment when the administration continues to press antitrust cases against big tech.

And in Australia, recruitment platform Seek has accused rival Employment Hero of using data from Seek’s classifieds to poach jobseekers, escalating a months-long legal and commercial dispute between the two companies.

Source

Source: https://aspicts.substack.com/p/alibaba-pushes-ahead-in-us-with-ai

Key Points

• Alibaba.com courted US small and medium-sized buyers at CoCreate in Las Vegas, drawing ~3,500 attendees — nearly double last year.
• The company is pushing AI agent capabilities and cross-border trade services even as the US signals tighter onshoring and tariff threats on China.
• President Trump hosted major tech CEOs in the renovated Rose Garden, underscoring a complex relationship: outreach and confrontation (antitrust) at the same time.
• The administration continues to pursue high-profile antitrust actions against big tech while engaging industry leaders — a sign of simultaneous regulatory pressure and political outreach.
• Seek has accused Employment Hero of misusing data from its classifieds to lure users, marking an escalation of ongoing legal and commercial friction in the recruitment-platform market.
• These items sit within broader trends: the rise of AI agents, geopolitical friction over supply chains and chips, and intensified scrutiny of platform behaviour and data use.
• For businesses and policymakers, the stories highlight trade-offs: firms keep serving cross-border demand even amid tariff risks; regulators push competition cases while courting industry input.

Why should I read this?

Quick hit: if you care about where AI, trade policy and platform power collide, this is your tidy snapshot. Alibaba’s US push tells you how cross-border commerce adapts to politics; Trump’s CEO dinner shows the weird mix of embrace-and-squeeze with Silicon Valley; Seek vs Employment Hero is a reminder platforms will fight over data and users. We skimmed the noise so you don’t have to.

Author

Punchy: Short, sharp and useful — these headlines flag immediate commercial and regulatory moves worth watching if you track tech policy, trade or platform competition.