SAN FRANCISCO, USA (AP) — Silicon Valley leaders were among Donald Trump’s most outspoken opponents during the presidential campaign. Yesterday, though, many of them came face-to-face with the president-elect for the first time since the election.

The tech industry had multiple concerns about candidate Trump, among them fears that he would stifle innovation, curb the hiring of computer-savvy immigrants and infringe on consumers’ digital privacy. Those worries may not have abated, but that’s not stopping technology leaders from heading to Trump Tower in New York to make their peace — or press their case — with Trump and his advisers.

The CEOs who planned to attend include Apple’s Tim Cook, Alphabet’s Larry Page, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella,

Amazon‘s Jeff Bezos, Intel’s Brian Krzanich, IBM’s Ginni Rometty, Oracle’s Safra Catz and Cisco Systems’ Chuck Robbins.

Facebook‘s Chief Operating Officer, Sheryl Sandberg, was expected to be on hand instead of its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, who was one of many tech executives to express misgivings about Trump’s pledge to deport millions of immigrants.

Tech VS Trump

It could be a prickly meeting.

No other industry was more open in its contempt for Trump during the campaign. In an open letter published in July, more than 140 technology executives, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists skewered Trump as a “disaster for innovation”.

And Trump’s denigration of Mexicans, his pledge to deport millions of immigrants now living in the US illegally, and his crude remarks about women were widely viewed as racist, authoritarian and sexist by an industry that prides itself on its tolerance.

Trump, in turn, sometimes lashed out at the industry and its leaders.

He lambasted Bezos for the campaign coverage of his newspaper,

The Washington Post, and suggested thatAmazon could face anti-trust scrutiny if he were elected.

Trump also rebuked Cook for fighting a government order requiring Apple to unlock an encrypted iPhone used by a shooter in last year’s terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California.

And Trump’s repeated screeds against immigrants raised fears that he might dismantle programmes that have enabled tech companies to hire tens of thousands of foreign workers with the skills to write computer programs, design web pages and build mobile apps.

The industry is also worried that Trump might try to undermine “net neutrality”, a regulation requiring internet service providers to offer equal access to all online services. Trump’s harsh characterisation of the media as dishonest and unfair has raised other fears that he might even try to restrict free speech online.

Out of strife, peace

Some in Silicon Valley think the industry’s best move would be to keep its distance until Trump changes his tone. Former

Google executive Chris Sacca, now a tech investor, argues that industry leaders should steer clear of the meeting altogether.

Sitting down with the president-elect “would only make sense after Trump has given public assurances he won’t encourage censorship, will stop exploiting fake news, will promote net neutrality, denounce hate crimes, and embrace science,” Sacca said. “If and until then, tech figures who visit are being used to whitewash an authoritarian bully who threatens not just our industry, but our entire democracy.”

Most of the companies with executives attending the meeting declined to comment ahead of the gathering.

In an article published in

USA Today, IBM’s Rometty indicated she intended to press Trump to introduce more educational programmes to teach people the skills needed to fill technology jobs — a key issue for most industry leaders. Rometty says IBM plans to hire 25,000 workers during Trump’s four-year term, including 6,000 next year.

Oracle’s Catz said in a statement that she plans to tell Trump “that we are with him and are here to help in any way we can. If he can reform the tax code, reduce regulation, and negotiate better trade deals, the US technology community will be stronger and more competitive than ever”.

Other tech institutions are also signalling an end to the animosity.