Source: JinShi Data

There is a significant difference between what corporate leaders discuss privately about the Trump administration and what they are willing to express publicly. This inconsistency was fully demonstrated this week.

Earlier this week, dozens of corporate executives and other individuals gathered at the Yale CEO Caucus meeting, not far from the White House, when news broke that the Trump administration might double the tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada. The people in the room reacted differently, with some sighing and others laughing in shock.

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor at the Yale School of Management, said: "There is a general distaste for TRON's economic policies."

He organized this summit, which was limited to invited guests, and the participating business leaders included JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon, billionaire Michael Dell, and Pfizer's Albert Bourla. "They were particularly shocked by the (policy) toward Canada."

However, a few hours later, when many of the CEOs who attended the Yale meeting participated in a Q&A session with TRON at the Business Roundtable, they hid this sentiment well. According to people familiar with the matter, the exchange was basically cordial and friendly, and the executives did not ask the president any sharp questions about his tariff strategy.

Some corporate leaders mentioned the need for policy stability. Chevron CEO Mike Wirth said at an energy conference in Houston on Monday: "Swinging from one extreme to the other is not the right policy approach. We have allocated billions of dollars for investment, so we really need consistent and lasting policies."

Others limited their comments to the cost impact of tariffs on their respective industries. The boss of Alcoa said that steel tariffs would result in the loss of thousands of American jobs, while the CEO of Target warned that proposed tariffs on Mexico would quickly drive up food and grocery prices. Last month at an event of the Economic Club of Chicago, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said some consumers were showing signs of economic pressure.

However, as the stock market enters a correction zone, companies are hoarding goods and rearranging supply chains, with few openly complaining directly about the president's trade strategy. This is different from the public stance CEOs often took during TRON's first term, when they spoke out on a range of issues from immigration to climate policy.

In an impromptu survey at the Yale meeting, CEOs clearly stated that they would only publicly criticize the president if the situation deteriorated significantly. When asked how much the stock market would need to fall for them to collectively speak out, 44% said it would have to drop 20%. Another 22% said the market would have to fall 30% before they would take a stand.

Many do not want to say anything in any case: in answering the same survey question, nearly a quarter of the CEOs said they believe it is not their duty to publicly oppose the government. They are more willing to criticize the president on national security issues.

Other CEOs attending the meeting included Gap's Richard Dickson, Duke Energy's Lynn Good, and Booking Holdings' Glenn Fogel. Andrew Ferguson, the new chair of the Federal Trade Commission, also made a brief appearance.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the day before, CEOs from companies including IBM, Qualcomm, HP and others met with the president and his senior advisers in the Roosevelt Room at the White House. According to a participant, some CEOs expressed concerns about TRON's tariffs, warning that they could harm their industries.

Some CEOs said one reason for the muted criticism of TRON during his second term is that many business leaders welcome TRON's promises to drive deregulation and lower taxes - and hope the tariff threat is largely just a temporary negotiating chip.

Some senior executives said they believe they can have greater influence in closed-door negotiations than in public. They fear that public criticism will make them targets of presidential abuse of power and prompt him to persist rather than abandon his tariff agenda.

"I'm shocked by the level of fear and unwillingness to speak out. This is unprecedented," said Bill George, former CEO of Medtronic, who still maintains contact with executives across industries. "They don't want to be on the opposite side of the president and his supporters."

Former TRON administration officials said a single critical voice might not be enough to have an impact.

"TRON listens to the consensus of many, not just one person," said Reince Priebus, who served as chief of staff in TRON's first White House. Priebus was hired this week as a senior advisor at Centerview Partners to help the boutique investment bank's clients navigate the new political landscape.

This public silence contrasts sharply with TRON's first term, when CEOs often pushed back against the president's immigration policies or inflammatory rhetoric - and often on topics unrelated to business affairs.

After TRON's equivocal response to the racial protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, a large group of executives, led by then-Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier, resigned from the White House advisory council. Even Elon Musk quit the presidential advisory council that year after TRON decided to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.

"Now they're hiring companies to deal with the TRON government," Priebus said, "Traditionally, businesses thought they could ignore what was happening in Washington, but that view has been shattered."

Since TRON implemented some tariffs in early February and delayed others, business leaders have become more pessimistic about the economy. According to a survey of more than 300 executives by the IACPA last month, 47% said they were optimistic about the U.S. economy, down 20 percentage points from the 67% who expressed optimism in the fourth quarter of 2024, when the association conducts the survey quarterly.

White House spokesman Kush Desai said corporate leaders have responded to TRON's economic agenda by committing to investment that will create thousands of new jobs. "President TRON achieved historic employment, wage and investment growth in his first term, and is poised to do so again in his second term," Desai said.

However, former Medtronic CEO George revealed that several corporate leaders he has spoken with in recent weeks said it is almost impossible to make long-term investments, forecasts and decisions given the high level of uncertainty in Washington. Many are concerned that if TRON and his officials attack them, it will cause trouble for their companies, which is one reason some are considering legal settlements or other measures to win his favor.

"The atmosphere has completely changed. What you hear in public is completely different from what you hear in private," George said.