CEOs are feeling the whiplash right now.
Trump’s back-and-forth on tariffs is creating uncertainty for businesses, and their leaders are starting to complain.
Chief Executive magazine’s latest CEO Confidence Index, which polled more than 220 US CEOs earlier this month, found that business confidence is at its lowest since November 2012. The ever-changing tariff threats against Mexico and Canada were the most commonly cited reason for their falling optimism.
“We knew there were changes coming, [but] we did not expect them to be rolled out/forced upon us in this fashion, nor did we expect to see Canada and Mexico to be countries that would be affected by these tariffs,” one CEO who spoke to the magazine said.
Another Fortune 500 CEO told Fortune last week, “I don’t trust that what’s said today will be true tomorrow.”
Foxconn CEO Young Liu said in a recent earnings call that tariffs were causing chief executives “a big headache.”
“Judging by the attitude and the approach we see the US government taking towards tariffs, it is very, very hard to predict how things will develop over the next year,” he said.
Trump levied 25% tariffs against most imports from Canada and Mexico on March 4. On March 5, he suspended those tariffs for automobiles covered by the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. On March 6, Trump extended the suspensions to all goods covered by the agreement until April 2. China and Canada responded with retaliatory tariffs.
The president then placed 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports and threatened 200% tariffs on some European imports. Trump has imposed two rounds of 10% tariffs on China since February.
Forrest Webber, who owns The Trade Table, an online home improvement store, told Business Insider that the confusion around tariffs is already impacting businesses.
“We just had a brand we sell go out of business last week. We received an order from them on Monday and were going through our normal order process,” he said. “It was strange that we hadn’t heard back from our representative, so we went to their website and discovered they were closing due to the tariffs.”
Webber said business owners just don’t know “what’s going to stick.”
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told Semafor that such “uncertainty is not a good thing.”
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, meanwhile, wrote in the company’s 2024 annual report, published Friday, that many of the bank’s corporate clients are “acting more cautiously until they have more clarity.”
“While policy uncertainty is to be expected within the first few months of any administration, it’s important that policy positions become clearer so that businesses are able to make the decisions they need for longer-term planning and investment,” he wrote.
As for President Donald Trump, he’s said businesses and their executives should be able to roll with the punches.
“They always say that. ‘We want clarity,’” Trump told Fox News in an interview.
Asked if businesses will get the clarity they’re seeking on tariffs, he answered: “I think so, but you know, the tariffs could go up as time goes by, and they may go up, and you know, I don’t know if it’s predictability.”
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