The first reactions of chefs to the second Trump administration were as varied as the companies they run. A few love The promises of federal expenditure reductions, deregulation and a reworked commercial program. Others were concerned about the direct costs of prices on their industries and signs of falling Consumer confidence.
More than a month later, the questions go up and they become clear. American companies have spent decades to develop multinational operations based on a network of economic trade agreements that have fortified post-war America as the desire for the world. A large part of this system is in doubt because the administration is more fiercely goes by the allies than enemies, including more recently the explosive exchange of the oval office between President Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. And with Mr. Trump fell from his wishes of deregulationAnd pushing for direct political control of regulators, the personal interest of the American company has been awake.
Given Trump’s threats to punish the companies that cross him, the leaders of management do not know how to react. They were especially silent. Business leaders are not politicians and shaping world treaties is not their day work. But the cost of inaction can be catastrophic. An erratic policy and dubious diplomacy will lead to a hostile trade environment, a dull economy and a broken world confidence, improving the attraction of China as a more stable partner.
Collective action – silent or vocal – must be the answer. Alexis de Tocqueville, the French parliamentarian who studied American democracy in the early 1830s, saw civic voices such as public confidence sources in our system, a kind of “social capital” as precious as financial capital. Mr. Trump, who has never managed a large business, desperately seems to want their approval.
Most directors general are not protectionist, isolationist or xenophobic. They also do not want to be considered accomplices in economic and social policies that they find disturbing. In our hundreds of conversations with the best business leaders, they tell us a version of “we invest where there is the rule of law, not the law of leaders”.
Here is a sample of what they say to us: Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Effectiveness of the Government “lead the cliff car,” said one of them. Mr. Musk and Trump demolish government railings for their own gain, said another. A third party planned to transmit the cost increase for customers. The president lost his confidence. Managers are embarrassed to speak to foreign partners. “I cannot continue to apologize with credibility,” said one.
Data from the Federal Electoral Commission show that Trump was the first republican presidential candidate have support main business leaders. However, we initially encouraged managers to meet him, because this type of partnership can strengthen the nation. But now, in the light of what has been going on since January 20, business leaders must consider the options to protect their business and their employees.
Today, 40% of all income from S&P 500 companies are won out The United States. About 5.4 dollars Foreign direct investment Sulfled in the country in 2023, with Great Britain, Canada, Germany and Japan, each inquired more than $ 600 billion. More than 20% of American titles are detained abroad, including a third of the Treasury debt in circulation, more than a quarter of business debt and almost a fifth of the actions.
The boost of potential prices left business leaders interference To rework the supply chains to minimize the cost of these samples and put the plans on hold. Charge language from administration to our allies and its inexplicable preferential treatment Putin’s authoritarian regime in Russia will explode decades of strategic relationships.
Business managers have options, but some of them have already expired. The calm growl will not do much. The spill of interior investments is self-deficit. This is why the moment has arrived for an energetic joint action. The chiefs of chief must put urgency pressure to the administration and the legislators, individually and collectively, during meetings behind closed doors and publicly, to underline the negative consequences of these policies in terms which resonate with Mr. Trump – the potential long -term decline in the market value of their companies.
Some senior executives have already become public: Jim Farley de Ford said The pricing proposals would impose “a lot of costs and a lot of chaos”. MARY BARRA DE GENERAL MOTORS warned“What we will not do is spending a large amount of capital without clarity.” Ken Griffin of the Citadel investment company, called Prices are a “obstacle to growth” in the United States. Tony James of the Costco retailer and formerly of the Blackstone private capital giant, said On CNBC last week, “If you are a business manager at the moment, you don’t know the way to the future, which makes you temporarily hold things up.” William Oplinger of Aluminum Giant Aluminum Aluminum warned These steel and aluminum prices would kill thousands of jobs.
In his first administration, Mr. Trump was quick to attack leaders who challenged him, as Matt Levatich has Harley-Davidson And Ken Frazier of Cripple. Maga Dirhts boycotted businesses. Stock prices rebounded. But all of this was temporary.
Most Directors General do not support radical protectionist prices or the random overthrow of American alignment with Europe. Trump has no time for alliances, whether with NATO, the GOP establishment or the Business Round Table, a lobbyist for large companies. The intimidators fear collective action and count on opponents of the rival parties against each other.
There is no time to revolt against Mr. Trump as in August 2017When a parade of chiefs of chief resigned from his commercial advisory advice. But it is the moment of an urgent and constructive conversation, less the presumption of imperial fidelity. When unique voices are shown, a refrain pierces.
Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld is a professor at Yale and president of the Yale Managing Director Institute, where Stephen Henriques, former consultant at McKinsey & Company, is a principal researcher.
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