Is President Trump acting in the best interest of America by pressuring Chairman Powell to cut interest rates? Has the independence of the Federal Reserve been eroded by recent actions from the Trump administration? Have the U.S. tariffs been helpful or harmful to your business?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These are some of the big questions facing American business leaders right now, and, taken together, they offer a pretty comprehensive referendum on the Trump administration\u2019s economic policies nine months into the president\u2019s second term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, how\u2019s he doing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not so hot, at least according to informal polling of the CEOs of many of the nation\u2019s largest organizations. At least when they are asked anonymously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The polls were part the off-the-record Yale CEO Caucus, hosted in Washington, DC Wednesday by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, the longtime head of the school\u2019s CEO Leadership Institute and a Chief Executive<\/em> columnist. Those in attendance showed little belief\u2014at least in private\u2014that the White House\u2019s multi-month grind to overhaul the nation\u2019s tariff regime or gain more influence over the Federal Reserve was helping either the nation or their businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Asked if President Trump was acting in the best interest of America by pressuring Chairman Powell to cut interest rates, 80 of those at the Caucus said no\u2014and 71 percent said the independence of the Fed had been eroded by the administration\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On tariffs, it was much the same. Some 71 percent said the White House tariff policies had hurt their business, and for good reason: Asked who was footing the bill for the tariffs, attendees said it was and domestic importing companies (46 percent) and U.S. consumers (30 percent), rather than foreign exporting companies (14 percent) and foreign countries (9 percent) as the president has repeatedly claimed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As you\u2019d expect in the current political climate, individual CEOs asked directly during the discussions about the president\u2019s policies were circumspect in their responses. Many praised his actions as helping bolster U.S. manufacturing and helping to enliven one industry after another. Pressed for details, most demurred and said they were addressing any concerns privately with the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As one CEO put it\u2014privately: \u201cI like some of what he\u2019s done,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I\u2019m not crazy about a lot of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n More results from poll questions asked at Wednesday\u2019s CEO Caucus:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Can U.S. free-market capitalism compete with the Chinese socialist market economy in the global AI race?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Are you investing more in domestic manufacturing\/infrastructure since \u201cLiberation Day\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n When will we see the results from your capital investments into domestic manufacturing\/infrastructure because of President Trump\u2019s tariff policies?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Are the courts correct in saying the tariffs are illegal as executed?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Is it right for the Trump administration to use tariff policies to interfere in the peaceful, domestic political events of foreign countries, such as in the Brazilian Supreme Court decision against Jair Bolsonaro?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Is the TikTok deal an apparent threat to U.S. national security?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Could winning the bid for TikTok by the Oracle, Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz consortium make Larry Ellison the most powerful media executive in the world?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Would it be a problem if Ellison\/Paramount had a controlling stake in TikTok?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The annual Yale CEO Caucus drew many of the top names in American business\u2014and little support for the president\u2019s actions. At least in private. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3405,"featured_media":375087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[871,891],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-375086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leadershipmanagement","category-politicspolicy"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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