The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is warning the Trump administration that the trade war could tip the country into a recession.
Chamber of Commerce CEO Suzanne Clark wrote a letter this week to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, warning them of economic trouble as the administration tries to cobble together new trade agreements.
“We are deeply concerned that even if it only takes weeks or months to reach agreements, many small businesses will suffer irreparable harm,” Clark wrote in the letter sent Wednesday and first reported by CNBC. She implored the administration to take immediate action to “stave off a recession.”
Clark asked officials to provide an immediate and automatic exemption from tariffs for “any small business” importer, warning they do not have the margins to offset tariff increases or the capacity to route supply lines fast.
Clark also requested an automatic tariff exemption for items that cannot be produced in the U.S., specifically citing products such as cocoa and bananas. And she asked the Trump administration to establish a process for tariff exclusions if they can demonstrate that they would risk employment.
Clark ends the letter by describing areas where the lobbying group and the administration share common goals, such as promoting “pro-growth policies.”
Like many CEOs and business leaders, Clark has had to walk a fine line between cooperating with the administration and antagonizing it. Clark has split the difference on tariffs previously.
“There are targeted tariffs that have a good use in global trade negotiations, and then there are blanket tariffs that we think would be bad for American families and communities,” Clark told Axios in an interview earlier this year. She noted that widespread tariffs would stoke inflation:
“They are, in fact, a tax — they are paid by consumers and manufacturers and they would draw retaliation that could hurt our farmers.”
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