US CEOs need to find their missing backbones

CORPORATE chieftains and investors never expected an entirely smooth ride from a second Trump presidency. But did any chief executive officers expect fierce trade wars with America’s closest allies? And did any investors expect the current nosedive in the markets? America’s businessman president is turning out to be a capital-basher like no other.

The S&P 500 index just recorded its worst performance compared with the rest of the world this century. The US dollar is weakening, inflationary pressure is rising and credible voices are predicting a recession. Shell-shocked, some of the country’s most powerful CEOs are speaking out.

The CEO of Ford, Jim Farley, says that Donald Trump’s tariff proposals will impose “a lot of costs and a lot of chaos”. The chairman of the board of Costco Wholesale Corp, Tony James, worries that uncertainty is killing investment. “If you’re a business executive right now, you don’t know the path of the future, so that causes you to hold back on things temporarily.”