A report released today by San Francisco-based recruitment company Hired Inc. reveals big changes in global tech hiring trends during the era of President Donald Trump.

Trump’s promise to bring jobs back to America has so far included plans to reform the H-1B visa system and also to scrap the Obama administration’s so-called startup visa. The Hired report found that the “current political climate has caused uncertainty among the tech industry.”

This uncertainty has prompted a decline in interest in foreign workers by U.S. tech companies. But the report also noted that this is a two-way street, with foreign workers accepting fewer interview requests from American companies.

The trend is a worrying one given that lately numerous reports have emerged stating that the U.S. is on the brink of facing a shortage of suitable applicants for occupations in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. According to the American Action Forum, by 2024 the U.S. will be short 1.1 million STEM workers.

The Trump administration’s slogan of “Hire American, Buy American” is viewed by some critics as a populist statement, one that worries advocates of a more open immigration policy. It’s said that as many as 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children in the U.S. According to an ITI report, if new entrepreneurial visa programs were implemented, 1.6 million jobs could be created in the U.S. in the next decade.

Hired interviewed tech workers regarding their opinion on whether immigration brings more innovation to the tech industry, and 81 percent of respondents said it did. More than half the respondents said they believed there was a shortage of tech talent, while slightly less than half said that the H-1B system wasn’t working. The report also shows a difference of opinion from U.S. citizens and foreign tech workers.

Another trend is that about 40 percent of the foreign workers interviewed said they were thinking about relocating from the U.S., with Canada (32 percent), Germany (12 percent), Asia (10 percent) and Australia (10 percent) the most popular destinations. The U.K., which has implemented initiatives to bring in foreign entrepreneurs, would have been a more popular choice if it weren’t for Brexit.

In its summary, Hired wrote that these trends “could very well have a negative impact on the U.S.’s ability to stay competitive in the global tech economy,” especially given that other countries are currently luring talent towards their shores.

Image: Tech Jobs Tour via Fickr