Andrew Ross Sorkin Reports Business Leaders Are ‘Concerned’ Over Trump Tariffs as Consumer Confidence Hits 8-Month Low

CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin said on Wednesday that the “business community” is privately “concerned” over President Donald Trump’s promised tariffs.

Sorkin joined MSNBC’s Morning Joe to discuss a new report showing that consumer confidence has dropped to an eight-month low. The widely-used index for consumer confidence dropped seven points in February, sinking to the lowest point in eight months, the Conference Board noted in their report.

Sorkin argued not many business leaders are willing to publicly share their concerns, but they are privately worrying about some of Trump’s economic promises, including major tariffs he plans to impose on Canada, Mexico, and China.

Sorkin said:

The business community, while maybe not acknowledging it as publicly as they should, is starting to get concerned themselves about the tariff piece, about the taxes piece, about what’s happening geopolitically, and just, frankly, how much things have actually stalled out despite all of the things we heard were supposed to happen in November and December. We talked about it so many times now. If you were going to make an investment — and the whole idea is people are going to making investments left and right, nobody’s making an investment right now because they don’t know what to invest in. They don’t know whether the tariff is going to be on or off. They don’t want the tax policy is going to look like. They don’t know what the economy is going to look like.

The Squawk Box co-host also noted that cuts from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are fueling concern as the massive cuts he’s seeking would mean many employees are going to be out of work. Sorkin noted that Musk did say last year that DOGE cuts could lead to some economic “pain” temporarily.

“He suggested it was a temporary pain. Because he believes there’s rainbows on the other side. We’ll see about that,” he said.

The Wall Street Journal editorial board this week declared that Trump’s tariffs will “punish” Michigan and automakers. Sorkin argued these worries can already be seen among automakers themselves as they are hoarding supplies out of fear of tariffs raising their costs.

“Ford and so many others, they’re hoarding parts. They’re hoarding supplies because and that’s not because we have tariffs, it’s because they’re worried that tariffs will come,” he said. “And that’s going to have an additional cost on those automakers.”

Watch above via MSNBC.

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