WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump will meet the CEOs of America’s biggest companies on Tuesday, many whose market value has dipped in recent days as recession and inflation fears soured consumer and investor sentiment.
The Republican president is expected to speak with around 100 CEOs at a regular meeting of the Business Roundtable in Washington, an influential group of CEOs leading major US companies from Apple to JPMorgan Chase and Walmart. Trump met with technology company executives at the White House on Monday.
Trump’s economic policies so far have centred on a blitz of tariff announcements — some of which have taken effect and others delayed or set to kick in later — that he has said will correct unbalanced trade relations, bring jobs back to the country and stop the flow of illegal narcotics from abroad.
Markets have been spooked by the prospect that the policies could raise prices for businesses, boosting inflation, and undermine consumer confidence in a blow to economic growth.
US stocks tumbled on Monday, putting the benchmark S&P 500 down nearly 3.0 per cent since Trump’s election in November last year and 4.5 per cent underwater for the year overall. Meanwhile, a survey of American households showed consumers growing more pessimistic about their prospects.
Trump has imposed an additional 20 per cent tariff on Chinese goods entering the United States, as well as 25 per cent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, although he suspended most of the duties on US neighbours until April 2, when he plans to unveil a global regime of reciprocal tariffs on all trading partners.
Trump last month said the policies could cause “short-term, some little pain” before delivering long-run benefits. In a Fox News interview aired over the weekend, he declined to predict whether his economic policies would cause a recession.
“Industry leaders have responded to President Trump’s America First economic agenda of tariffs, deregulation, and the unleashing of American energy with trillions in investment commitments that will create thousands of new jobs,” said White House spokesman Kush Desai, dismissing negative talk about the outlook.
Until recently, investors have been buoyant that the Republican president’s policies would tip towards stimulating more growth, for instance through lower taxes, or easing inflationary pressures, for instance by loosening regulation on fossil fuel production.
But tax cuts need congressional approval. And some economists see plans to increase deportations of undocumented immigrants increasing price pressures in the labour market, while cutting the federal workforce could raise unemployment.
“I think if we all are becoming a little more nationalistic — and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, you know, it does resonate with me — that it’s going to have elevated inflation,” said BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, a Business Roundtable member, at an industry conference on Monday.
Economists at Goldman Sachs Group have cut their 2025 US growth forecast and raised their inflation forecast, “both on the back of more adverse tariff assumptions”. The forecast remains positive for the year. The bank’s CEO, David Solomon, is a Business Roundtable member.
Last week, the business advocacy group called for making the Trump tax cuts permanent and pushing forward with regulatory reform in the energy, infrastructure and manufacturing sectors, areas of broad alignment with the Trump administration.
But the group also urged “negotiators to redouble efforts to secure a path forward that swiftly removes the recently implemented tariffs. These tariffs, especially if they are long-lasting, run the risk of creating serious economic impact.”The group also said the White House and Congress should preserve the benefits of the North American free trade deal with Mexico and Canada signed during Trump’s first term.
