Behind Closed Doors The Mood Is Darker ...

Corporate leaders regularly praise the Trump administration and its policies in public. Behind closed doors, their mood is darker.

At a recent meeting of CEOs and others at the Yale School of Management, America’s business leaders sounded off on concerns about tariffs, immigration, foreign policy matters and "an increasingly chaotic, hard-to-navigate business environment".

The meeting included prominent CEOs such as Motorola Solutions Greg Brown and Booking Holdings, Glenn Fogel.

Attendees included the heads of major manufacturers, consumer brands, automakers, tech companies and investment firms. Many shared their concerns in a private conference room. They didn’t want to speak publicly for fear their companies could be targeted by the White House or they could attract criticism from Trump.

In a series of poll questions, the executives made their frustrations known. Asked if tariffs had been helpful or hurtful to their businesses, 71% of respondents described the tariffs as harmful.

Executives also confirmed U.S. consumers and domestic importing companies were bearing the brunt of the tariffs, not exporting companies or countries.

The Trump administration has made tariffs core to its economic agenda, hoping to spur a resurgence in domestic manufacturing by bringing jobs back to the U.S. from overseas. Most of the CEOs took a different view. When asked whether they planned to invest more in U.S. manufacturing and infrastructure, 62% of respondents said they didn’t plan to do so because of uncertainty

"Tariffs, immigration policies and concerns about the economy are weighing on leaders and preventing them from feeling confident enough today to make new investments."

Not all CEOs in the room criticized the administration. Several said they appreciated efforts among Trump officials to correct trade imbalances and reinforce the country’s borders, but they took issue with the way some policies were being carried out.

“There’s a fair amount of confusion,” said Kathwari of Ethan Allen, which produces many of its products in the U.S. “The focus on making trade fair between America and the rest of the world is important, but it’s got to be managed so it does not create chaos.”

CEOs were nearly unanimous in expressing displeasure about Trump’s efforts to pressure Fed Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to lower interest rates: 80% of respondents said Trump wasn’t acting in the best long-term interests of America by doing so. 71% of respondents said the Fed’s independence had been eroded by Trump’s actions.

A good portion of the discussion also focused on "state capitalism". Nvidia and AMD will share a portion of certain overseas chip sales with Washington. The U.S. will get what has come to be known as a “golden share” in U.S. Steel as a condition of Nippon Steel’s takeover.

Executives saw the recent moves as concerning, a sign of government encroaching on the free-market ethos that long defined the U.S. Behind closed doors of course. WSJ.