American chief executives are having second thoughts about Donald Trump.
Chief executives are “very discouraged”, says Prof Jeffrey Sonnenfeld of Yale following a recent summit.
Two-thirds reckon Trump is bad for the economy; 85 per cent are embarrassed when meeting international executives; 94 per cent worry tariffs will be inflationary.
Despite “universal revulsion” against Trump’s economic policies, chief executives are reluctant to speak out, with 66 per cent saying stocks would need to fall 20-30 per cent before expressing public disapproval.
Critics might see this as chief executives playing “cowardice domino”, as high-profile marketing professor Scott Galloway recently put it, when criticising technology bosses participating in what he called America’s “slow road to fascism”.
Harsh? Perhaps.
“Nobody wants to poke the bear,” says Sonnenfeld. “[Trump] has such a coercive, chilling effect. They’re afraid of vindictiveness.”
These fears are understandable. Less understandable is chiefs’ slowness in seeing the threat.
In February, the Conference Board’s measure of chief executive confidence hit its highest level in three years, with the number expecting improved economic conditions spiking from 33 to 56 per cent.
Sonnenfeld says executives are more worried about national security than the stock market.
However, it was clear in November, when Trump nominated someone widely seen as an apologist for Russia – Tulsi Gabbard – as the director for national intelligence, and vaccine sceptic Robert Kennedy jnr as health secretary, that this would not be a conventional Republican presidency.
Yet only now are many chief executives reckoning with the consequences.
