The first reactions from chief executives to the second Trump administration were as varied as the companies they run. Some liked the promises of federal spending cuts, deregulation and a revamped trade agenda. Others worried about the direct costs of tariffs on their industries and signs of falling consumer confidence.
More than a month in, questions are mounting, and they’re getting sharp. American companies spent decades developing multinational operations relying on a web of economic trade agreements that fortified postwar America as the envy of the world. Much of that system is in doubt as the administration goes after allies more ferociously than enemies, including most recently the explosive Oval Office exchange between President Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. And with Mr. Trump backing off his vows of deregulation, and pushing for direct political control of regulators, the self-interest of American business has been awakened.
Given Mr. Trump’s threats to punish companies that cross him, chief executives are unsure how to respond. They’ve mostly been quiet. Company chiefs are not politicians, and shaping global treaties is not their day job. But the cost of inaction may be catastrophic. Erratic policy and questionable diplomacy will lead to an unfriendly business environment, a lackluster economy and shattered global trust, enhancing the appeal of China as a more stable partner.
Collective action — whether quiet or vocal — must be the answer. Alexis de Tocqueville, the French parliamentarian who studied American democracy in the early 1830s, saw such civic voices as sources of public confidence in our system, a kind of “social capital” as valuable as financial capital. Mr. Trump, who never ran a major company, desperately seems to want their approval.
Most chief executives are not protectionist, isolationist or xenophobic. Nor do they want to be seen as complicit in economic and social policies they find worrisome. In our hundreds of conversations with top corporate leaders, they tell us some version of, “We invest where there is the rule of law, not the law of rulers.”
Here is a sample of what they are saying to us: Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency are “driving the car off the cliff,” said one. Mr. Musk and Mr. Trump are demolishing the guardrails of government for their own gain, said another. A third anticipated passing along rising costs to customers. The president has lost their confidence. Executives are embarrassed talking to overseas partners. “I can’t keep apologizing with credibility,” said one.
Federal Election Commission data shows that Mr. Trump was the first Republican presidential candidate to largely not have the support of major business leaders. Nonetheless, we initially encouraged executives to meet with him, because that kind of partnership can strengthen the nation. But now, in light of what’s transpired since Jan. 20, business leaders must consider the options to protect their firm and their employees.
Today, 40 percent of all revenues for S&P 500 companies are earned outside the United States. About $5.4 trillion in foreign direct investment flowed into the country in 2023, with Britain, Canada, Germany and Japan each investing over $600 billion. Over 20 percent of American securities are foreign owned, including one-third of outstanding Treasury debt, more than one-quarter of corporate debt and nearly one-fifth of equities.
The whiplash of potential tariffs has left business leaders scrambling to rework supply chains to minimize the cost of such levies and put plans on hold. Charged language from the administration toward our allies and its inexplicable preferential treatment of the authoritarian Putin regime in Russia is blowing up decades of strategic relationships.
Business leaders have options but some of them have already expired. Quiet grumbling won’t do much. Dumping domestic investments is self-defeating. This is why the moment has arrived for forceful joint action. Chief executives must urgently lobby the administration and legislators, individually and collectively, in closed-door meetings and publicly, to emphasize the negative consequences of these policies in terms that resonate with Mr. Trump — the potential long-term declines in their companies’ market value.
Some top executives have already gone public: Jim Farley of Ford said tariff proposals would impose “a lot of costs and a lot of chaos.” Mary Barra of General Motors similarly warned, “What we won’t do is spend a large amount of capital without clarity.” Ken Griffin of the investment firm Citadel, called the tariffs an “impediment to growth” in the United States. Tony James of the retailer Costco, and formerly of the private-equity giant Blackstone, said on CNBC last week, “If you’re a business executive right now, you don’t know the path of the future, so that causes you to hold back on things temporarily.” William Oplinger of the aluminum giant Alcoa warned that steel and aluminum tariffs would kill thousands of jobs.
In his first administration, Mr. Trump was quick to attack executives who challenged him, such as Matt Levatich at Harley-Davidson and Ken Frazier of Merck. MAGA die-hards boycotted companies. Stock prices bounced around. But all of this was temporary.
Most chief executives do not support sweeping protectionist tariffs or the haphazard reversal of America’s alignment with Europe. Mr. Trump has no time for alliances, whether with NATO, the G.O.P. establishment or the Business Roundtable, a lobbyist for big companies. Bullies fear collective action and rely on pitting rival parties against one another.
It is not yet time to revolt against Mr. Trump as in August 2017, when a parade of chief executives resigned from his business advisory councils. But this is the time for urgent, constructive conversation, minus the presumption of imperial fealty. When single voices are shouted down, a chorus breaks through.
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