Former second gentleman Doug Emhoff says American competitiveness is facing great strain from the Trump administration’s repeated power grabs and its tariff policies.
At the Inc. 5000 Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, Emhoff, a partner at the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, warned that it will become increasingly difficult for entrepreneurs to protect their intellectual property if the Trump administration continues to push the limits of the law.
Emhoff spoke on a panel examining the future of U.S. competitiveness with Inc. editor-in-chief Mike Hofman and former U.S. Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ).
“One of the problems with the erosion of the rule of law is all the pressure being put on it by the administration, and what’s happening with the DOJ is going to make our efforts to protect IP less predictable,” Emhoff said at the conference. “One of the great things about our system prior was our strong courts and the enforcement–both to protect your IP and to prevent people from stealing your IP–and the more that erodes here, the less protected you’re going to be.”
President Trump has sought retribution against his enemies, law firms, and universities as some examples, in addition to rolling out executive orders that have been ruled by the courts as unconstitutional.
It’s something entrepreneurs should pay attention to given that some 765,000 trademarks were registered in the U.S. last year. Intellectual property theft is a significant battle that the U.S. is contending with: Estimates suggest the country is losing up to $600 billion each year due to IP theft from China alone.
Each year thousands of disputes come before the World Intellectual Property Organization, which helps resolve IP disputes. In 2024, the group saw 6,1,68 unique cases.
But the new age of tariffs and reshuffling of global trade is also hampering American innovation. Former Sen. Flake emphasized that if the U.S. is going to take on China, then “you want the rest of the world with you.”
“We know that if we don’t have our allies with us, then China can go around us, and if we’re not a reliable trade partner, other countries will find China and go to them,” Flake said. “That’s my concern: We desperately need to take on China on these IP issues and some of the other issues, but let’s have our allies join us.”
Emhoff concurs, adding that the Trump administration’s tariff policies will cause businesses to drift away from the U.S. and they will look to do business with nations abroad. That applies to talent as well.
This isn’t just a red state or blue state issue, he added, but a bipartisan economic one.
Emhoff also took a jab at those who are donating to the Trump administration or those making grand contributions to advance their own business interests, nodding to the gaggle of tech CEOs who have cozied up to Trump in recent months. (There’s a bevy of tech companies including Google, Amazon, and Palantir that donated to Trump’s $300 million White House ballroom project).
Trump is known to value loyalty and some very well might chalk it up as an added cost of doing business with an administration that doesn’t mind meddling in private business dealings.
“Authoritarianism and corruption are not good for entrepreneurs who are out there just trying to compete the right way, the fair way,” Emhoff says. “The business community has to step up and come together because you have power,” he adds, “the power to change this.”
Melissa Angell
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