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Trump’s Travel Ban Will Hurt Trade, BlackBerry CEO John Chen Says

January 30, 2017 4:59 PM | News


By The Canadian Press

John Chen

In this Tuesday, March 3, 2015, file photo, Blackberry’s Executive Chairman and CEO John Chen speaks during a presentation at the Mobile World Congress wireless show in Barcelona, Spain. BlackBerry Ltd. CEO John Chen says U.S. President Donald Trump’s ban on people from seven predominantly Muslim countries entering America will hurt trade. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Manu Fernandez)

TORONTO – BlackBerry Ltd. CEO John Chen says U.S. President Donald Trump’s ban on people from seven predominantly Muslim countries entering America will hurt trade.

Chen said in a statement that he is disheartened and does not agree with the sharpness of the executive order.

Trump signed an executive order Friday that doesn’t allow citizens from Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and Libya to enter the U.S. for 90 days.

Chen says the move will make it more difficult to conduct business globally and hurt trade.

He says BlackBerry hopes the U.S. administration will find better ways to handle such matters in the future.

Chen, himself an immigrant, says more than half of BlackBerry’s executive team and many of the company’s employees are immigrants.

CP - The Canadian Press