"It can't stay like this" Now the first bosses are opposing Trump's tariffs
Donald Trump has not only shocked the stock markets with his tariff hammer. For many US companies, the tariffs are poison - now the first bosses are publicly criticizing the US President.
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- Donald Trump's tariff policy is sending shockwaves through the US economy.
- The first business leaders are now publicly criticizing Trump's tariffs and calling for them to be withdrawn.
- At the same time, company bosses fear restrictions from the new administration.
They were all there at Donald Trump 's inauguration: the new US president was surrounded by America's wealthy tech bosses. They supported his election campaign with hundreds of millions of dollars - in the hope of benefiting from the new administration. Trump also collected millions of dollars in support from outside the tech industry.
However, the erratic tariff policy is now causing the first cracks in this alliance to appear. As the Wall Street Journal reports, several business leaders have expressed their displeasure with Trump's tariff policy.
According to the report, in the days following Trump's announcement last week, the CEOs merely limited themselves to privately communicating their frustration to trade groups and lobbyists. In addition, new meetings with Trump officials on trade were hastily arranged - with "unsatisfactory answers", executives and business consultants told the newspaper.
"We are in a global economy"
Bahram Akradi, CEO of the luxury fitness chain Life Time Group Holdings, is frustrated by the tariffs imposed worldwide. "I can't agree with that - we're in a global economy," he tells the Wall Street Journal, adding: "It can't stay that way."
Farooq Kathwari, CEO of furniture manufacturer Danbury, also criticized the tariffs and called on Trump to withdraw them: "It's not a mistake to withdraw, it's not a failure."
The bosses are under great pressure. Investors want to know how Trump's tariffs will affect companies. One of these investors is the wealthy Bill Ackman, billionaire and hedge fund manager.
The Trump supporter is urging the President to take action and is proposing a 90-day pause on tariffs for negotiations with trading partners, otherwise a "self-inflicted economic nuclear winter" threatens.
Eagerly awaiting the 10,000-dollar iPhone
On Musk's X platform, Ackmann follows up and takes a gloomy tone: "We are in the process of destroying confidence in our country as a trading partner, as a location for business and as a market for capital investment."
GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen - also a Trump supporter - reacted with malice: "I'm so excited about my 10,000 dollar 'made in USA' iPhone," he wrote on X. Cohen's company, meanwhile, is already suffering from the tariffs. Video game giant Nintento has announced that it will not be fulfilling pre-orders of the new Nintendo Switch 2 from the USA for an indefinite period of time - because of the tariffs.
Fear of Trump's revenge
While the first bosses are publicly expressing their displeasure, the majority are still keeping quiet. Management professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld suspects the reason is simply fear of Trump's revenge, as he told the Wall Street Journal.
Last month, the Trump administration took rigorous action against unpopular law firms, for example. In addition, federal authorities were instructed to identify companies and other organizations for audits regarding their diversity rules.
In recent months, Sonnenfeld has heard from the frustrated CEOs of several large listed companies that trade groups should oppose the tariffs more vigorously. "Individually, however, they don't want to be the whipping boy," says Sonnenfeld, "then it becomes personal for them."
