‘Everyone Is Terrified’: Business Leaders and Republicans Mum on Tariffs as Markets Crater
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs have sent markets around the world plummeting, but don’t expect many business executives or Republican officials who oppose them to say so publicly.
In a speech from the Rose Garden on Wednesday, Trump unveiled tariffs on nearly all imports. The announcement sent stocks cratering over the next two days as investors fear what rapidly increasing prices will do to already shaky consumer sentiment – not to mention forthcoming retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods. The Trump administration and its surrogates have insisted that short-term pain is necessary to forge a healthier economy going forward, though economists are highly skeptical. Analysts at JPMorgan, for example, put the likelihood of a recession at 60% because of the tariffs.
But according to a report by Politico published on Friday, there is a “culture of fear” keeping business leaders and Republicans in line. Here are a series of reactions from various officials and operatives given to the publication on condition of anonymity:
“There is zero incentive for any company or brand to be remotely critical of this administration,” said a public affairs operative, who, like others interviewed for this story, was granted anonymity to speak freely. “It destroys your ability to work with the White House and advance your policies, period.”
An official in the energy industry echoed that sense of fear. “Hearing angst and frustration from all quarters,” the official said via text message, “but no one wants to be first out of the box saying anything negative about Trump’s decision-making.”
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“There is absolutely a sense that the administration is keeping a list, and no one on K Street wants to be on it,” said one executive at a trade group downtown.
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“I think a lot of business leaders are very frustrated that the process of getting here was opaque, and that the decision points are so starkly black and white, and … that they’re not dealing with situations with more nuance,” one multi-client Republican lobbyist said, before adding: “I’m trying to say something profound without getting a call from the White House that, ‘You’re next.’”
“What’s the Japanese proverb? The nail sticking up gets hammered down,” the lobbyist added. “On K Street, there’s no value in being the nail sticking up right now.”
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“People are smarter this time in dealing with the Trump administration,” the person said. “They know not to beat their chest and try to score points in The New York Times, but have conversations behind the scenes and try to make deals. I think it’s about making deals and not antagonizing the administration.”
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“Everyone is terrified,” a senior GOP aide said. “But I don’t think anyone wants to cross the president right now.”
Politico further reported that one Republican senator was overheard fretting that this week’s market turmoil is merely an entryway to more dire straits ahead.
“He campaigned on this,” the senator said. “This is just the beginning.”
Trump justified his huge tariffs by presenting graphics that falsely indicated that dozens of other countries have imposed exorbitant tariffs of their own on U.S. goods.
