U.S. tech firms urge presidential candidates to embrace trade, high-tech visas

A combination photo shows Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump (L) in Palm Beach, Florida and Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (R) in Miami, Florida at their respective Super Tuesday primaries campaign events on March 1, 2016. REUTERS/Scott Audette (L), Javier Galeano (R)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Thirteen U.S. industry groups representing technology companies Amazon.com Inc , Uber Technologies Inc, Apple Inc , Facebook Inc and others are pushing for the next U.S. president to support the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal and to make it easier to hire high-tech workers from abroad, according to a joint letter seen by Reuters.

Ahead of the Republican and Democratic conventions in July, the tech industry plans to issue on Wednesday an open letter charting a dozen policy recommendations for the candidates running in the Nov. 8 presidential election. The groups are not aligning themselves with either of the two major political parties.