President Trump has long promised to crack down on tech firms that undercut American workers by bringing in less expensive foreign labor. Last month, he signed an executive order that promised extra oversight of the H-1B visa system that speeds the entry of high-skilled tech workers into the US. Critics called the order a public relations stunt that was unlikely to have any real impact on abuses in the system. Despite the lack of substance in the measure itself, however, the mounting rhetorical pressure from the White House may still be paying off.

On Tuesday, Infosys, an IT placement firm and one of the country's top employers of H-1B visa holders, announced plans to hire 10,000 American workers by 2020. The company also promises to build four technology hubs in the US, the first of which will open in Indiana this year. To recruit this new and sizable workforce, Infosys will look to American colleges and universities. The initiative was long in the making, says Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka—part of an ongoing strategy within Infosys to train a new American tech workforce.

"We started to think about hiring locally at a much larger scale two years ago," says Sikka. "This is a culmination of that."

If so, this culmination certainly comes at a fortuitous time. As President Trump eyes the H-1B program, this announcement could help polish Infosys's image ahead of any possible reforms.

Greater Complexity

If President Trump's rhetoric really is pushing companies to alter their practices, it wouldn't be the first time he has used the bully pulpit to literally bully businesses into change. In that way, H-1B reform may be playing out in a way not unlike the deal president-elect Trump struck with Carrier, a manufacturer that was planning on shutting down an Indiana plant and moving its production to Mexico. After a series of high-profile tweets and a sweetheart deal negotiated between the air-conditioner maker and then-Indiana governor Mike Pence, Carrier agreed to keep the plant open, saving roughly 1,000 jobs.