The line was silent.
On a call from the oval office, President Trump just didn't welcome unwelcome news to Maryborough of General Motors, John Elkan of Stellantis and Jim Farley of Ford to America's most powerful automotive executives.
In a call in early March, Trump said everyone needs to succumb. Customs duties will come into effect on April 2nd. Now is the time for everyone to board.
Automotive directors, like other industry leaders, claimed that Trump's 25% tariffs on cars coming from Canada and Mexico would wreak havoc in the supply chain and would puncture the industry. They had gained some kind of concession when Trump agreed to give him a month until April 2nd.
But now, the Big Three carmaker's chief seems to have realized there's no point in fighting more. They got as much as they were trying to get.
For businesses that include some major donors, Trump's second term shocking is that he really believes what he has been saying publicly for 40 years. When he says “customers” is the most beautiful word in the dictionary, he means that.
For Trump, tariffs are more than just a negotiation tool. He believes they will once again enrich America. And they combine two of his favorite traits of the President. They are one-sided forces that he can turn on or off on a whim, and they create a gging economy and force powerful people to plead for mercy before him.
The account is based on interviews with more than 12 Trump administration officials and others who are familiar with the White House dynamics around tariffs. They asked for anonymity to discuss private conversations and deliberations.
The corporate community is a highly circulated group of people who spend a lot of money on consultants to interpret Trump and take him “seriously.” Rather than Trump loved tariffs, they told themselves. He said he loved what their threats could pose in negotiations.
For many years, the stock market has been the leadership of Trump's Guardrail, and the market entry has become traditional wisdom to limit the scope of his tariffs, which was surgically applied seven years ago.
But Trump 47 has not been hampered so far by a plunging market and headlines forced to reverse Trump 45. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has shaved more than 600 points since the new tariffs began. The S&P 500 slipped into the correction, meaning it fell by more than 10% from its peak.
During his first term, Trump had a weak stomach to the economic pain caused by a much narrower program of tariffs. He placed tariffs on more than $300 billion in products throughout his first term. Now, less than two months have passed, he is slapping tariffs on about $1 trillion in goods.
Several recent polls show an increasing number of Americans who are unhappy with Trump's handling of the economy, but his advisors argue that it will prolong prices higher than tariffs.
One Trump adviser, speaking about the terms of anonymity that explains personal conversations, told President Biden that stock markets have proven to Trump that it is neither a foolproof barometer of the economy's future nor a useful indicator of voters. If so, Biden, who hosted the booming stock market, would certainly become president, the adviser explained what Trump thought.
Advisors say he knows Trump is looking for signs of weakness by looking for foreign leaders if they follow their threats. They say they believe that retreating his tariffs will permanently hurt his preferred image as a strongman.
Sometimes he granted some sort of pardon, like when he exempts customs products from Canada and Mexico that are compliant with the North American trade agreement. But he has repeatedly said that more and more tariffs are ongoing.
Business leaders are now rapidly reassessing the hilarious assumptions that have guided their thinking since Election Day.
Bill Rainsh, a senior advisor to the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a former Commerce Department official, said Trump was explicit in the campaign about his intentions, and his tariff proposal this time is far deeper and broader than his first term.
“I think he was clear,” he said. “I don't think people paid much attention.”
Their misreading is understandable.
Heading into the 2024 election, Trump's new economic advisor crop sent a signal of security on Wall Street. Their public comments suggested that Trump's second term trade policy was roughly the same as the first. In September, now Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick described the tariff as a “negotiation chip” that ultimately leads to a free market. And Scott Bescent, who became Trump's Treasury Secretary, wrote to his client last year in a letter that read, “Tax guns are always loaded and loaded on the table, but rarely released from hospital.”
It's still possible that Trump is away from some of his tariffs, but if he's thinking of turning it around, it's going to be news for his nearest adviser. Trump has repeatedly said he plans to issue much broader tariffs on April 2, and his advisers told foreign officials and chief executives he would not be blocked. His comments to his Cabinet Secretary and the aides at the Oval Office Meeting have tracked his public rhetoric, according to two people with direct knowledge who spoke about the terms of anonymity to explain the private conversation.
Trump personally drafts or decides his true social posts that threaten constant and aggressive tariffs in order for China, Canada and the European Union to retaliate against his provocation. Even former aides who think his maximalist approach is wrong say he has a valid point about how China and Europe treated them unfairly in terms of trade.
He feels the pressure is working so far, says aides cite Mexico's willingness to prey on undocumented immigration and fentanyl's flow to the US. Even after Mexico took these steps, Trump still made progress with 25% tariffs before suspending applications on many items.
One of the biggest differences between the first terminology and the present is that Trump is far more confident in his instincts and stocks people in his team that reflect them. He rarely hears strong opposition about his economic policies.
Trump received fierce opposition to tariffs in his first term from people who said he would raise the costs of consumers and businesses and slow the economy. His team included people Trump, like then Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin, whom he calls “globalists,” and Gary Kohn, who worked with others to stop tariffs by getting documents from the president's desk, showing the president's charts and maps to explain the benefits of trade. Other aides like Larry Kudrow were less confrontational, but still remained skeptical of protectionist trade policy.
Trump's Hardline trade adviser Peter Navarro once did what an oval office with so-called globalists screamed. Now, returning to the second term, the dispute with Navarro's other advisors is more subtle.
Mr. Becent was an executive at a hedge fund, and Mr. Lutnick was the chief executive of Wall Street company Cantor Fitzgerald. But both publicly accept customs duties before they are given their work. And no one is sitting on the resolute desk of Trump, who is fiercely debating against his economic ideas, whatever they personally think about tariffs. His current team discussion revolves around the public message about tariffs, exemptions, and the scale and timing of tariffs, but no one challenges the idea of ​​using them in any way.
Also, Trump has not heard any strong opposition from Capitol Hill. Republican lawmakers are codifying because they convert to protectionism or oppose their remarks. The Wall Street Journal editorial board is still a consistently right-wing agency to his trade approach.
Rutnick, who oversees the US Department of Trade, has received numerous calls from unfortunate business leaders, along with White House Chiefs of Staff Susie Wills and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.
On the evening of March 13th, Ludnick, Bescent, Director of the National Economic Council Kevin Hassett, and several others met with Vice President JD Vance and Vice President JD Vance to discuss having a cohesive public message in complaints from the Alliance about contradictions.
White House officials declined to comment on the meeting.
However, in a statement provided by the White House, Navarro explained that Trump's adviser was following his lead, characterising it as “a complementary skill set and a high level of trust with a name that discusses behind closed doors and appears as “one band, sound.”
There were few exceptions accepted. Rollins heard from farmers who wanted an exemption from potassium, an important ingredient in fertilizer. Trump ultimately agreed to a 10% reduction in tariffs, but people with knowledge of the matter were unhappy about the grace. In a statement, Rollins said the president's “cutting tariffs on otasts is an important step to help farmers manage and secure key input costs at the height of the planting season and strengthen long-term agricultural trade relations.”
But in many other cases, Trump seemed unwilling to offer an industrial exemption that is more important than his first term.
Some industry executives have tried to push back during discussions with the White House, but few have said anything publicly. Those who have won the rage of the Trump administration. Those who spoke to me personally generally choke criticism of Trump between gorgeous praise.
Some businesses are wary of being “blackmailed” and becoming a target of some sort, Rainsh said. “No one wants to reveal it,” he said, “Because they're worried about the outcome.”
However, these companies still rely on positive policies, such as tax cuts and deregulation.
