'Incompetent cadre of yes men': CEOs furious at Trump team amid chaotic market spiral
A CNBC survey of business executives revealed an overwhelming majority expected an economic recession as a result of the Trump tariffs, with one calling the whole situation, "disproportionally stupid and illogical."
The business network reported the results of a "CEO flash survey" it conducted among its CNBC Council members including 22 chief executives. According to the report, 69 percent said they expected a recession, with more than half predicting the economic decline would occur this year. Three-quarters of those CEOs described the coming recession as "moderate or mild," the survey showed.
One CEO labeled it "the Trump recession."
Further results revealed that just over a third of the CEOs said they expected to cut jobs due to the downturn, with just under half claiming it was still too soon to know what changes will need to be made. The CEOs taking a "wait-and-see approach" said they're running through worst-case scenarios involving their suppliers and consumers.
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"CEOs expressed a wide variety of views and emotions," the report said, with one stating, "Trump has imposed tariffs on component parts that are simply unavailable in the U.S. and never will be. He has surrounded himself with an incompetent cadre of yes men and women unable or unwilling to offer him cogent counsel."
All of the CEOs said they will have to raise consumer prices from between 5 percent to 20 percent, with one CEO saying, "We imagine that our suppliers will have to swallow part of the tariff and we will have to pass on part of the tariff to our customers."
Trump has claimed that the tariffs would encourage new manufacturing plants to be constructed in the U.S., but "few" of the CEOs surveyed agreed the administration's policies "would lead their company to build new domestic manufacturing," CNBC reported.
"Increased capital expense for construction will delay, or reduce the scale of projects," one CEO said, while another claimed, "tariffs on building goods will likely slow and postpone capital construction projects."
Still another commented, "All of the uncertainty with how it's being handled will harm our business and limit investment until this is all concluded."
On Monday, high-profile hedge fund manager Bill Ackman and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon both denounced the tariffs' deleterious effects on the economy, but Trump remained undeterred. The president threatened to tack an additional 50% tariff on China after that nation imposed retaliatory tariffs, causing the markets to continue their downward spiral.