CES 2022: "The show will and must go on"
CBSN
CES "will and must go on" in person as well as virtually, according to organizers of the annual technology showcase. Despite a winter COVID-19 surge that caused many major companies to pull out of the event, which kicks off Monday in Las Vegas, more than 50,000 people and 2,200 exhibitors are expected to attend.
After the virus canceled in-person activities last year, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) is making some concessions to reality. The group shortened the event and added health and safety protocols, including vaccination requirements, while access to trade show floors will be limited. Despite such measures, attendee numbers are expected to remain sharply lower than before the pandemic. In 2019, 182,000 people and more than 7,000 exhibitors attended the show.
Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Meta, TikTok and others (including CBS News) declined to attend the event in person, citing health and safety reasons, but still plan major announcements this week. U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is expected to deliver remarks virtually on Thursday.
More employees of the Environmental Protection Agency were informed Wednesday that their jobs appear in doubt. Senior leadership at the EPA held an all-staff meeting to tell individuals that President Trump's executive order, "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing," which was responsible for the closure of the agency's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office, will likely lead to the shuttering of the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights as well.
In her first hours as attorney general, Pam Bondi issued a broad slate of directives that included a Justice Department review of the prosecutions of President Trump, a reorientation of department work to focus on harsher punishments, actions punishing so-called "sanctuary" cities and an end to diversity initiatives at the department.
The quick-fire volley of tariffs between the U.S. and China in recent days has heightened global fears of a new trade war between the world's two largest economies. Yet while experts think the battle is likely to escalate, they also say the early skirmishes offer hope for an agreement on trade and other key issues that could head off a larger conflict.